Colm Laverty

Writings by Colm Laverty

Five Reasons I Like: Sega Megadrive

November 4, 2010 in Colm Laverty | No comments

by Colm Laverty

Colm Laverty is a young musician and photographer from Belfast. He can’t play Pro Evolution Soccer due to an injury he sustained playing too many awesome chords; and I swear, he’s cheekier than a llama.

Five Reasons I Like…

The first console that I properly owned was the Sega Megadrive. Though there’d been a few consoles in my house beforehand (through lending and the like), this was one for which I could buy my own games, and waste entire summers. The 16-bit era appeals to me especially because of that childhood nostalgia, but also due to there being some brilliant games which still stand up today. Both the SNES and Megadrive had 2D gaming to a tee, with some perfect examples of sprite-based graphics (which were subsequently shunned to make way for 3D, and eventually, high definition, gaming, which they’re still trying to perfect). Though Sega has bitten the dust in terms of making consoles, and despite making some downright embarrassing Sonic games over the last decade, it’s nice to see some developers going back towards 2D gaming – a “retro revival”, if you must. But never mind that for now, here’s Sega.

‘Sega Megadrive’

Streets Of Rage
Genre: Beat ‘Em Up
Certainly one of the most fun examples of violent video games – Streets of Rage, and its sequels, are classic side-scrolling beat-em-ups centred around the player (you guessed it) beating up lots of bad guys. Hundreds of clones (all wearing terrible nineties apparel) parade the streets, and you must defeat them all, with only your hands, feet, whatever you happen to pick up, and the occasional police sub-machine gun. Where the real fun is to be had, though, is the two-player co-op mode. Teamwork! Beating up bad guys together! Sounds good and fair, until you actually play it and wind up (accidentally or not) doing flying-kicks into each other’s faces. The soundtrack, in the second game, especially, is one of the best around – I recognised the World 1-1 theme before I’d ever played the game! One last thing, I reckon that all pedestrian traffic lights should be replaced with a flashing “GO!” sign. Would be sweet.

Comix Zone
Genre: Beat ‘Em Up
Stylistically, one of the best games I’ve ever seen. The story is simple: a comic book artist gets thrown into his own comic book, and must defeat all the villains he has created, in order to escape. The concept is unique – the game is a comic. The protagonist, Sketch, jumps from panel-to-panel, taunts enemies with speech balloons and fights with the accompanying “BASH” and “WHAM” pop-ups. Not many people would have heard of Comix Zone because of its release late into the console’s life, but it’s well worth the investment. One thing I must say though, is it’s a fucking hard game. It takes a good amount of punches just to knock out the first enemy in the first panel of the game. You have but one life, your damage is carried on from level-to-level, and there’s only a handful of power-ups. This also makes it a shorter game, but it’s definitely worth the challenge.

Pulseman
Genre: Action/Shooter, Platform
This is another game which many may not have played back in the day, being unavailable in Europe and all. The premise is pretty simple – it’s a platform-shooter, where you play as a robot-boy with electric powers (basically a Megaman-esque character). The controls are quick and smooth, and the game proves to be among the most colourful and visually interesting on the Megadrive. What makes this game important for me, though, is its ties with Pokémon. The same team who later went on to make the most popular RPG games of all-time, had a lot to do with the production here. Subtle similarities between games are fun to spot, such as the Volteccer move (as used by Pikachu in Super Smash Bros. Brawl), characters’ resemblance to certain Pokémon, or even some of the stage music. It’s also an insanely-addictive game.

Mega Bomberman
Genre: Action, Platform, Puzzle
Another example of a game with a classic multi-player mode. The objective of the game in general is just to lay bombs, blow shit up and collect things, whilst avoiding said explosions. It looks colourful and quirky, with several strongly-themed levels to play through, complete with enemies one might expect to see – like… umm… a jungle with rabbits with boxing gloves, and, eh, penguins throwing fireworks throughout an ice level. Players can also collect eggs with a trusty Yoshi-esque sidekick… a kangaroo. Each colour of kangaroo has a special ability too, like the green one has super speed, the purple one can jump high, and the pink one does some sort of retarded dance – it must have some purpose, I just haven’t figured that out. As I already mentioned, the real fun of the game lies with the multi-player mode, where you can blow the shite out of three other players, in a totally nonsensical way. A lot of games were better because they made no sense – they didn’t have to, they’re just a bit of a laugh. None of this “realism” gimmick, thank you very much.

Sonic The Hedgehog 2
Genre: Platform
My favourite game of all time. The blast-processing really does wonders here. Colourful, fast, smooth and flawless, Sonic 2 defines 16-bit gaming for me. If I ever need a reason to convince someone that older games can still stand up today, this is all I need. It’s permanently plugged into the Megadrive in my house, and even though I’ve played it for a good 15 years of my life, it never seems to get boring or repetitive. Maybe it’s just a nostalgic denial, where I’m really just making a big deal out of a terribly-aged, flawed game. So what? If anything can impress me to the point of obsession, continuously, over a matter of years, as much as Sonic 2 has, I could die a happy man. And I would marry it.

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Five Reasons I Like: SNES

September 29, 2010 in Colm Laverty | No comments

by Colm Laverty

Colm Laverty is a young musician and photographer from Belfast. He can’t play Pro Evolution Soccer due to an injury he sustained playing too many awesome chords; and I swear, he’s cheekier than a llama.

Five Reasons I Like…

Recently I have rediscovered my love for older video games – I’ve been playing retro games (“retro”, in my case, being post-NES) for a few years through my laptop, but only in the last short while have I actually went and bought a USB controller, and brought the actual consoles into my home again. My two consoles of choice are those which dominated the early nineties (the Super Nintendo and Sega Megadrive), and just like in the 16-bit console wars of old, it’s difficult to say which one I prefer. So I’ll take each in turn, listing five games from each platform which I have really enjoyed: first up, Nintendo.

‘SNES’

Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
Genre: Adventure/RPG
Despite having been a bit of a Zelda nerd for the good part of ten years, I only got round to playing this during the Summer. Needless to say, I was missing out on a classic – on first play I could almost stick it up there with my favourite games of all time. The plot and gameplay is typical, it has the familiarity of the NES original along with the innovations of the SNES – the added buttons, faster processing speed and updated, more colourful graphics – it feels like a vital link between 8-bit Zelda and Ocarina Of Time.

Final Fantasy VI
Genre: Adventure/RPG
The final chapter in Square’s 16-bit, Nintendo-exclusive franchise, before moving to the Playstation, is an astounding piece of work. FFVI (or FFIII, as known outside of Japan) follows a massive array of characters as they try to bring down the downright-evil dickhead, Kefka, and his empire. Like other games in the series, there’s a lot of hours of gameplay (I recall clocking up about 40 hours, which is massive for a 16-bit cartridge), impressive use of storytelling (including alternate plots and emotive cut-scenes), some of the best-looking visuals, and one of the most brilliant soundtracks, the SNES has to offer. To describe each playable character would take a whole lot of effort, it’s better just to play and meet them for yourself. In those little sprites there’s a surprising amount of emotion portrayed – so much so that the game almost brought me to tears several times. And that’s never happened with any other game.

Earthbound
Genre: Adventure/RPG
Think of RPGs and things like those games already mentioned spring to mind – heroes fighting demons and monsters with magical swords and the like. Then there’s Earthbound – one of the most unique, self-aware and charming games I’ve played. You play as Ness (you may know him from Smash Bros.), a young boy with psychic powers, who, as events unfold, discovers that he must defeat an evil alien, Giygas. Gone are swords and mythical monsters – Ness attacks wild dogs, hippies, and abstract art with a baseball bat. There are no potions, temples, or rupees; but hamburgers, phones and ATM machines. The offbeat humour works perfectly with the setting – many locations and characters are a satire of 90s society, there’s even a few references to Mr. T, the Beatles and Blues Brothers; and throughout, characters who talk meta-narratively often have to correct themselves and pretend that they’re not in a game.

Super Mario Kart
Genre: Racing
Kart-racing games may be all over the place nowadays, but before this game, the genre didn’t even exist. The latest Mario Kart on Wii may be considered the best in the series, with dozens of characters, online play and creative tracks, but the original is a good reference point as to where the franchise started. With only a handful of characters and tracks, and the sheer minimum of options by today’s standards, Super Mario Kart still holds up today as addictive and incredibly fun. Like a lot of Mario games, it’s easy enough to just pick up and play, but with a little bit of challenge for the more experienced player. Multiplayer is a classic – hitting your mate with a red shell is as satisfying as ever.

Super Metroid
Genre: Action/Shooting, Adventure
Another classic which I only got around to playing recently – Super Metroid takes everything that was great about the NES original, and improves it vastly. Following the events of the first two games, Super Metroid is a return to Zebes, where the whole story began. Much like Link To The Past, many of the familiar gameplay mechanics of the original are present, but updated to a SNES standard – Samus constantly finds more powerful upgrades for her suit and blaster, until she is strong enough to face fucking scary bosses. The art style is suitably dark and alien, and the music is both atmospheric and epic – lack of music in appropriate places helps create an eerie feeling which not a lot of games seem to achieve. It’s not the hardest Metroid game, i.e. I actually completed this one; it strikes an effective balance between fun exploration and challenge.

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Five Reasons I Like: Edgar Wright

August 4, 2010 in Colm Laverty | No comments

by Colm Laverty

Colm Laverty is a young musician and photographer from Belfast. He can’t play Pro Evolution Soccer due to an injury he sustained playing too many awesome chords; and I swear, he’s cheekier than a llama.

Five Reasons I Like…

With Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World released in a matter of days, I thought it’d be fitting to have a look at the film’s young and talented director, Edgar Wright. The man responsible for several of my favourite television shows and films over the last decade is barely in his mid-thirties, and with each project he undertakes, his following and appraisal only seems to grow.

‘Edgar Wright’

No-Budget Filmmaking
Wright started out, like many a director, with a love for film and a lot of free time on his hands. This led to making short spoof films with schoolmates and friends, which were relatively successful, considering he was barely out of his teens; among his early endeavours were the slap-stick dirty-cop movie, Dead Right (which can be found in Hot Fuzz special features, with useful commentary) and the mock-Western, A Fistful of Fingers… shot in Somerset. Even in his early work, there’s a taste of Wright’s highly-visual type of directing, with super-fast cuts, whip pans et al. Building up a bit of reputation at an early age, Wright even landed a spot on this kid’s show, in which he talks about no-budget special effects (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tvizW7kT4EY).

Homage-O-Meter
As any fan of Wright’s work would know, it often takes someone with a similar mindset and a knowledge of popular culture to fully appreciate it. Firing off visual cues or throwaway lines like a one-man-pop-culture-reference-machine, Wright knows what he loves and he’s never afraid to imitate it in his own work – whether it is film, music or video games. And it’s not just for no good reason either (unlike many a Friedberg and Steltzer [ED: So shit that I'm not even going to tag their names, the cunts...] “Shitty Movie” movie), homage comes from the minds of the characters, who, being mostly young, can only seem to think through referencing their favourite films, etc. Notable examples include… pretty much everything. It’s a technique which helps him tap into the collective mind of several generations of geeks, who love seeing that kind of thing on screen and “getting” it. How many times have you had a conversation consisting entirely of lines from films, or had pretend gun fights (in your twenties), or played video games to an extent where reality becomes merely another game? You know what I’m talking about, don’t lie.

Work. Work. More Work.
Wright doesn’t do things half-assed. Sure, the average gap between feature films so far has been about three years, but that is time well spent. Countless months of production are usually spent researching, drafting, meeting with co-producers, re-drafting, drinking coffee and more re-drafting. He also puts a lot more into a project than your typical director, with personalised blogs (see his 2009 ‘Photo-A-Day’ album) and an abundance of special features on DVD releases. With some of the finest comedic talent currently working (Bryan Lee O’Malley, Simon Pegg, Nira Park), there is always feedback and reason to keep trying harder. And it is worth the wait: the screenplays for both Shaun Of The Dead and Hot Fuzz are two of the best-written comedy films in recent years, having been polished repeatedly and ironed out to perfection. Scott Pilgrim is likely to follow suit, if the adaption stays true to the graphic novels (which, by what I’ve seen so far, does exactly that).

The Blood and Ice Cream Trilogy
From his earliest work on television through to his latest feature, Wright has collaborated with numerous talents, young and old, in often career-making roles. The most obvious examples here are Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, who shot to Hollywood-stardom after the success of Shaun. The duo can be seen next year in Spielberg’s version of Tintin, as well as their geek-road-trip movie, Paul. In their work with Wright, both as actors and co-writers, they have never been funnier – nor have their roles been as original. Hot Fuzz shows a slightly-more-serious side to Pegg, which we barely get to see in other films, while many roles Frost have been cast in are merely a rehash of Ed; similarly, with Scott Pilgrim sees a slightly different approach to how Michael Cera plays a character (with many of his previous roles being an awkward, nervous geek, it’ll be good to see him break out of that typecast, sort of). The third movie in the Cornetto trilogy, currently dubbed “The World’s End“, has some high expectations to follow, and will be long anticipated by the time they get around to making it.

On that note…
The guy is still young. There’s potentially another fifty years of filmmaking under Wright’s belt (sure Clint Eastwood’s still doing it), during which time he’s bound to build quite a repertoire of outstanding films. With several more films in talks and beginning production not long after Scott Pilgrim hits the cinema, we can definitely expect a lot more of the same. There’s likely to be a bit of a thematic change as his work progresses, with each project growing as he grows into an acclaimed (more so) filmmaker. In a society dominated by idiotic, lowest-possible-denominator films and artless, businessmen-type filmmakers, it is great to have someone who does it purely because they love filmmaking. Plus they get to see all their geeky dreams come to life on screen.

That’s ever so slightly awesome.

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Five Reasons I Like: Small Gigs

July 22, 2010 in Colm Laverty | No comments

by Colm Laverty

Colm Laverty is a young musician and photographer from Belfast. He can’t play Pro Evolution Soccer due to an injury he sustained playing too many awesome chords; and I swear, he’s cheekier than a llama.

Five Reasons I Like…

Gigs are a big part of my life. Whether I’m taking photos, playing, or just watching from the crowd, every so often a great gig will remind me why I love music. I started off, like many people, attending a massive stadium gig (in my case, U2). It was all nice and exciting for my fourteen year old self, but as I began to go to more and more, smaller concerts, I realised that it was the low-key, pub-based events which excited me more.

‘Small Gigs’

Intimate
My main problem with stadium gigs is that, unless you queue for an entire day, chances are you’ll end up stuck way at the back of the venue. On many an occasion I was seated so far away that I was essentially watching a light-show – someone could’ve just been playing a CD of the band and I wouldn’t've been any the wiser. On the contrary, a few of my favourite venues are small and quiet enough to allow you to get very close to the performing acts. From a photo-taking perspective, this is essential – who wants to look at a set of photos of just a big shiny stage? Furthermore, who wants to fight against a sea of photographers to capture the exact same shot? There’s no fun or freedom in that. (ED: Highlighted by myself because I think this should be stapled against the heads of anyone in a shop buying a camera.)

Crowds
I’m not usually a fan of crowds. Let me specify: I love having a laugh and wrecking about with mates, or just anyone nearby, but I cannot stand how some people turn up to gigs and end up complaining that it’s too crowded, or push people away who stand on their feet (+1 GTFO points to girls who wear high heels to a concert), or turn up to a sold out concert, not knowing the band apart from “that one song” that was in Twilight, whilst some actual fans are left sitting at home, ticketless. Something I love about the local scene is that every one of those points are reduced greatly, especially the latter. Instead of jumping on bandwagons, people turn up because they like the music, or because they want to support their friends. Or just to have a laugh and kick the shit out of each other in the pit, if the crowd is right.

Cheap
Money, money, money. As long as I’m a poor student, I reckon there won’t be a blog that goes by without it mentioning money somehow. Local gigs are often pretty cheap (rarely over a fiver for a local band), leaving more money for, I dunno, merch and drink. From my own standpoint, I can often scrounge a spot on the guestlist, in exchange for photographic services. This suits me very well, because if I were to attend my normal rate of two or three gigs a week, at a fiver each, I would find it pretty hard to buy food. There’s no stupid additional charges for record companies or to pay the wages of a hundred crew members neither. Ninety quid to see Mick Jagger limp about? No thanks.

Frequent
Building on something I mentioned in the last point: on a good week I am able to attend two or three gigs in the city. For people who really love a certain local band, this means they could catch them several times within a short period. Think of this in contrast to some world-famous bands who you may see twice in ten years. Sure, it makes it more of an event when they finally do come round again, but what if you miss it? What if you live hundreds of miles away from the venue and no one will commit to travelling that far with you and so you’re forced to sit at home? (something which has happened to me in relation to many a famous band). I suppose a second part to my point is that gigs in Belfast are… in Belfast. There’s no travelling for hours or having to book accomodation for after the gig – many gigs are within minutes of the city centre, even the worldwide acts filling out The Odyssey Arena are close by.

Community
In relation to Belfast in particular, there is a certain sense of community that I feel when attending local gigs. Bands aren’t super famous egotists, they’re your friends and your support. You can turn up to a band in a small venue and then have a pint with them afterwards – not everyone can do that with U2 (actually, a few of these local bands may even be as big as U2 one day – though hopefully not as shite – that’d be something to tell the kids, that you had a pint with them before they were famous). All in all, people come to see each others bands, help with promotion and bookings – there’s quite a bit of incestuous back-scratching, but it seems to work. I’ve heard rumours of other scenes in which bands aren’t as happy to help each other; in fact, some even compete over crowds and gigs, which kind of defeats the purpose of having a music scene. This has kind of turned into a tribute to the Belfast music community, but it still fits my main point. Wherever you’re from, there’s probably a similar music scene which you love and do anything to support. One final reason why small bands appeal to me – they’re mine. (Y’know, not literally mine, just in that kind of, “they’re a part of me” way. Only less cheesy).

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Five Reasons I Like: Not Having A Car

July 6, 2010 in Colm Laverty | No comments

by Colm Laverty

Colm Laverty is a young musician and photographer from Belfast. He can’t play Pro Evolution Soccer due to an injury he sustained playing too many awesome chords; and I swear, he’s cheekier than a llama.

Five Reasons I Like…

I don’t own a car. I don’t own a licence. I did take lessons, but that was three years ago, and nothing has yet to come from them. None of this particularly matters to me. Sure, maybe in a few years I’ll get round to doing my test, maybe buy a car – who knows? For now, I can survive perfectly well without one (most of the time).

‘Not Having A Car’

Money
It’s the root of most of my current living situations, money. In theory, if I had enough spare cash about me, so that I could actually afford to take lessons and tests and buy cars, then I would be more likely to do so. But I don’t. And the cost of running a car is bloody expensive, especially for young people (thanks to many a cocky douche who think speeding is cool). Insurance is incredibly high due to there being so many accidents among this age group; and I know if I were to drive a car now I would automatically be viewed as just another reckless young male driver.

Location
I live in Belfast, where the majority of my travelling can be done, on my feet, for free, in a matter of minutes. There is very little point owning a car in a city, unless you have to commute long distances regularly, which I don’t. If I was living back home, in the asshole of nowhere, then yeah, a car would be quite handy, and put an end to my family’s misery of having to lift me everywhere.

Traffic & Parking
Every evening around six is a nightmare for a lot of drivers in Belfast – traffic virtually comes to a standstill on a bad day. Cue mass road rage and beeping of horns. I, for one, would not have the slightest bit of patience for all of that. I admit, it would be convenient to have the ol’ car for travelling around the countryside, but once you reach a busy city…oft times you’re safer just getting out and walking. Parking is normally limited to massive mutli-storey contraptions with overpriced ticket fees – by the time you’ve found a spot and climbed down the twelve flights of stairs, you’ve travelled about twice as much as the average walking-pedestrian has. Or something.

Public Transport
Yeah, I know, public vehicles suffer from many of the same problems as private ones, with the addition of having to brave the elements just to board one. But think about it: you pay a few pounds per journey (the equivalent of which a car would use up on fuel), you don’t need to fill it up or clean it or take it to get fixed. You don’t even need to drive. I suppose it comes down to money again, as well as laziness on my part, but there is something a lot more free about trains, buses et al (ironically their routes are much more limited than that of a car, but just ignore that). I’ve spent many a train journey reading, listening to music, or sleeping (sometimes all three at once), without further thought as to the movement of the vehicle. Plus, it means less pollution (which I’m not really bothered by, but still… +1 environment points).

Safety
From the first time I got behind the wheel to the last time, I was in a constant panic that either a) I would run some unfortunate pedestrian down, or b) that I would end up crashing into the car in front of me. I don’t want the worry or responsibility that comes with driving, especially if I’m carrying passengers with me. Lazy as I am, if the destination is within walking distance, then I’d rather walk. You get to see a lot more of your surroundings whilst on foot anyway (and in my case, stop and take photos), as opposed to speeding through a town, only getting to view the main streets or motorway. Maybe I’ll end one a cliché about stopping and smelling the roses or something…

…shut up, Colm.

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Five Reasons I Like: British Sitcoms

June 23, 2010 in Colm Laverty | 1 comment

by Colm Laverty

Colm Laverty is a young musician and photographer from Belfast. He can’t play Pro Evolution Soccer due to an injury he sustained playing too many awesome chords; and I swear, he’s cheekier than a llama.

Five Reasons I Like…

It may just be me, but Britain seems to have the edge over America when it comes to sitcoms. Maybe I haven’t been exposed to enough good state-side programming for me to think differently – the mainstream ones aren’t much to go on. Sure, Friends wasn’t a particularly bad show, but endless repeats on E4 makes the whole notion unfunny and contrived. We have our own fair share of ‘shitcoms’ as well, but shite is shite, regardless of location. So here are five of my favourite UK sitcoms which either perfect the ‘classic’ idea of the sitcom, or defy it completely.

‘British Sitcoms’

Father Ted
Why? A conventional sitcom done right.
Perhaps the last great sitcom in the conventional sense, and certainly among the best of the 90′s. The bizarre goings-on of Ted Crilly and the folk of Craggy Island have been embedded into Irish culture of the last fifteen years.

Most of the norms of the situational comedy were at play here: the protagonist’s inability to escape his situation; the studio audience; the straightforward and resolved-within-an-episode plot. It may not be conventional in the same sense as The Waltons or something, thanks to Graham Linehan’s brilliant writing and insane scenarios (centred around priests, which hadn’t really been done before), but this hardly mattered. There’s a reason RTE play the Christmas special without fail every year.
Watch: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gT9xuXQjxMM

Extras
Why? Irony, challenges “shitcom” conventions.
When comparing conventional sitcoms with contemporary ones, this would be a great place to start. Andy Millman, played by Ricky Gervais, is a small-time actor who ends up writing a very successful sitcom. What he has in his head is an intellectual and smart comedy, but he is forced to make changes in order to make it more “broad” for mainstream audiences. This includes filming in front of a live audience (of idiots, basically), adding catch-phrases (“Are you having a laugh?”) and selling irritating merchandise.

It says a lot more about “shitcoms” than I could be bothered to mention here, but the juxtaposition between this naturalistic format and the artificial show within works brilliantly. There is no canned laughter (apart from that within Millman’s sitcom) and there is actual progression throughout the two series – we follow Millman from being a nobody to the star of a show which he hates, to a fame-hungry has-been on Celebrity Big Brother. Also featured are some big-name celebrity cameos, albeit in completely different personas than their real-life counterparts.
Watch: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=43sbtkQM6zc

Spaced
Why? Written from personal experiences, no canned laughter.
My favourite television show of all-time, to put it simply. Tim Bisley and Daisy Steiner (Simon Pegg and Jessica Stevenson respectively) are two twenty-something slackers who, both recently homeless, try to pass themselves off as a professional couple in order to rent a flat, despite only having known each other a few weeks.

The scenario doesn’t sound very much on paper, but every minute of the show is perfectly-executed, complete with pop-culture references, bizarre cutaways, and downright brilliant direction from a young Edgar Wright. It is one of the few sitcoms written by twenty-somethings, for twenty-somethings, with the characters being extensions of the writers themselves (which is one reason I was ready to murder someone when I heard news of a US remake by McG. Fortunately, the pilot wasn’t picked up) – Tim and Daisy were fleshed out and almost-real, and their constant exposure to popular culture leaves them being only able to think in terms of references. Don’t we all think like that nowadays?
Watch: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfSndZPynQk

Outnumbered
Why? Conventional themes with naturalistic format.
Family is a very common theme in sitcoms – you know, the “sure, we all get on each other’s nerves sometimes but in the end we love each other” sort of thing. Outnumbered, isn’t far from that. There are some major differences between this and umpteen shitcoms of old, significantly, there is quite a bit of improvisation.

Rather than bringing kids into a crowded studio for hours and make them learn “funny” lines, much of the dialogue here is built around the children’s acting. This makes for some genuinely funny moments, as well as a few controversial ideas as seen through children’s eyes. Many of the classic sitcom roles are here: the stubborn father (Hugh Dennis, probably best known for Mock The Week), the exhausted housewife, the awkward pre-teen (who looks strangley like a young Paul McCartney), the overly hyper boy and spoilt girl. It’s refreshing to see such a simple concept (in theory) seem incredibly naturalistic – possibly the most realistic interpretation of family life I’ve seen in a sitcom (The Royle Family may be up there, but I haven’t seen enough to be the judge of that).
Watch: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HlPZihRKCzA

Peep Show
Why? Unique POV direction.
I struggled to think of just one sitcom which is both funny and innovative as opposed to the broad and bland US sitcoms out there. I should clarify, there are some American sitcoms which I find brilliant (but that’s for a future column), and some British ones which are complete shite (Two Pints of Lager And A Packet Of Crisps, anyone?). I considered choosing Fawlty Towers, or The Young Ones, but they’re just more of the same I’ve already talked about through Father Ted.

Peep Show, when I first seen it, was a breath of fresh air. The camera work is top-priority here – instead of the badly placed cameras and artificial confines of a three-walled-studio-set, we see through the protagonist’s eyes themselves, in realistic locations. This also allows us to hear their thoughts, something which works brilliantly every so often in contrast to the external scenario. The situations Mark and Jez find themselves in can range from the mundane, to the downright embarrassing and bizarre (I’ve missed out on the last series and a half but I assume they’re even crazier than before).
Watch: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NOe5n8M0ldw

One more point which seems unique to British shows: they know when to stop. Whereas US typically consist of twenty-plus episodes per season (and last years longer than they should), a lot of UK shows quit while they’re ahead, making, at the most, about eight episodes per series, and usually quitting after two or three years. It’s quality, not quantity, folks – there’s very little shark-jumping here.

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Five Reasons I Like: NES

June 15, 2010 in Colm Laverty | No comments

by Colm Laverty

Colm Laverty is a young musician and photographer from Belfast. He can’t play Pro Evolution Soccer due to an injury he sustained playing too many awesome chords; and I swear, he’s cheekier than a llama.

Five Reasons I Like…

I’m a bit of a game nerd: in particular, retro games. This is partly due to their nostalgia value and my annoyance of Xbox fanboys shouting out “…man, you have to play this game, the graphics are lethal!” A further reason for this is that it would take a fortune to afford new games, whereas old ones can be picked up or downloaded for next to nothing. The games I mention here mightn’t match the technical or (sigh) visual standards of modern games, but I can guarantee they’ll be bloody fun to play.

…and that’s what games should be about!

‘NES’

Super Mario Bros. 3
Genre: Platformer
Yep, I’m starting off with a cliché, something on every list ever, but an absolute classic nonetheless. If you’ve never played this, where have you been the last 20 years? Instantly playable, and just that little bit challenging – there’s a reason why it is one of the biggest-selling games of all time (over 18 million units worldwide). The first Super Mario Bros may be much more iconic, but it’s the third instalment where Nintendo really nailed it – bizarre suit powerups, flawless control and countless secrets to be found. The perfect platformer.

Megaman 2
Genre: Platformer, Action/Shooting
Pew Pew Pew! Megaman must fight his way to defeat the evil Dr. Wily and his eight robot masters; a plot summed up in one sentence (ah, those were the days). The second instalment of the blue bomber series is where Capcom achieved damn-near perfection: brilliant character control, the use of non-linear level structure and inventive power-ups (creating a high playability rate), not to mention one of the most epic video game soundtracks I’ve ever heard.

There is little more satisfying that blasting every enemy in sight with the Metal Blade.

The Legend of Zelda
Genre: Adventure/RPG
Yes, I know, another cliché. Link’s original quest for the NES still stands out as highly-playable but also quite challenging. I should perhaps mention that, at the time of release, when virtually all games were about high scores, this came and blew the notion out of the water. Rather than being about how quickly you can beat the game, players were required to take the time to explore and find secrets. The map is massive considering the limitations, the dungeons and side-quests are as enjoyable and sometimes as challenging as any other game in the Zelda franchise.

Metroid
Genre: Action/Shooting, Adventure
A perfect blend of exploration-adventure and blasting the shit out of things. Samus Aran is sent to stop space pirates using metroids as ultra-weapons. From its eerie soundtrack, innovative power-up system and downright challenging game play, Metroid is the first in a franchise which is yet to have a game which isn’t brilliant. The use of the ‘morphball’ is insanely cool and unique, and the fact that there are multiple endings makes you work that extra-bit harder next time around.

…and if you’re skilled enough you’ll reveal Samus‘ identity…a woman – a tough-as-nails, ass-kicking woman – an idea which was pretty much unheard of in video games at the time.

Contra
Genre: Action/Shooting
Just for good measure, I’m choosing to end on a bloody hard game (you’ll find that each game on this list is a little harder than the last). I could’ve chosen a lot of examples (Battletoads, Ninja Gaiden, Ghosts ‘N’ Goblins, to name a few), but Contra stands out, being so bloody hard, Konami had to make a cheat code just to make it a little more bearable. Two commandos, Bill and Lance (two player co-op: +1 awesome), are sent to an island to shut down – yeah yeah, who cares?

Basically you just need to kill everything that moves. One reason the game is so challenging is the one-hit-death (how’s that for realism?); all the while the player is shirtless – no body armour, no shields, just fucking big guns.

– Bonus Round
Just for kicks, the protagonists from each of the games mentioned above are playable in Super Mario Crossover, a reimagining of the classic Super Mario Bros with a whole cast of NES icons. Blast the bollocks out of Goombas with spreader guns, or stun Koopas with boomerangs – it’s up to you.

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Five Reasons I Like: CDs

June 1, 2010 in Colm Laverty | No comments

by Colm Laverty

Colm Laverty is a young musician and photographer from Belfast. He can’t play Pro Evolution Soccer due to an injury he sustained playing too many awesome chords; and I swear, he’s cheekier than a llama.

Five Reasons I Like…

I have to admit, I’m an avid collector of CDs. Sure, it’s a dying format (thanks, MP3) and it requires this thing we used to do called “buying”, but my collection is forever growing and I’m not planning to stop now. Like most people, I listen to a lot of my music digitally, but in terms of obtaining it, that’s a different story.

‘CDs’

The Collection
There’s something very rewarding about seeing something grow over a period of time. Since I bought my first album in 2005, I’ve seen my collection expand into its hundreds – there’s quite a sense of achievement there. It does take up space, which can be a drawback if you’re living in cramped conditions.

…but think, what’s more impressive: showing your mates a screen saying “I have 100GB of music on my iPod“, or, a fucking wall of colourful jewel cases?

Tangability
Digital music is great, isn’t it? You’ve got all these… files… on a computer, and everything’s all… numbers and letters. CDs, on the contrary, can be held in your hands and feel like actual, real things. Downloading can be quick and easy but surely it can’t replicate the same feeling one gets buying a CD, ripping open the packaging and sticking it in a player for the first time, can it? And there’s some artwork and even a little booklet for some light reading about the artist.

Reliability
So you’ve got all your music on your iPod, and you can access anything with the greatest of ease – all is great. But then, one of three things happen: 1) You lose it on the bus; 2) Someone nicks it; 3) The bloody thing only goes and breaks (the day after the guarantee runs out, too… bastards). Either way, your entire music collection is potentially vanquished – so much effort, gigabytes and (in very seldom cases) money is all gone forever. If you had your collection on CD format, though… happy days! I know, these days you’re hardly expected to carry your CD collection around with you (it would be physically impossible), or even a Walkman, but you can spend countless hours ripping everything onto your new replacement iPod!

Cheap!
Although I’m sad to say CDs aren’t as popular as they were, say, ten years ago, it’s good news for us bargain hunters. Gone are the days of: “Fifteen quid for one album?! Fuck off!” – you can now pick up a handful of them for a tenner in some places (sometimes for under a quid, if you know where to look). This decline might not be permanent either – sure, look at vinyl, it’s making a comeback.

Maybe all the cool kids will be buying CDs again sometime soon. Nah wait, the idea of “buying” music is long gone…

Promotion
From a band’s point of view, the CD format can still be pretty important in distributing their music. For instance, you’ve got a few things for sale at a gig, you’re hardly gonna’ be able to sell MP3s to people, are you? Say you want someone to give your EP a listen, it’s easier to hand them a CD, rather than telling them to go home, go to your Bandcamp site, put in their details etc…

What if they don’t even have internet?! Relating to my first two points: your band records some songs, so isn’t it a lot more rewarding seeing it and holding it in your hand? You made this! You made this! You! This! Made! And for those bands who make it big, a limited copy of their first EP would make a small fortune on ebay, and you can’t do that with MP3s!

So there!

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Five Reasons I Like: Blogs

May 27, 2010 in Colm Laverty | No comments

by Colm Laverty

Colm Laverty is a young musician and photographer from Belfast. He can’t play Pro Evolution Soccer due to an injury he sustained playing too many awesome chords; and I swear, he’s cheekier than a llama.

Five Reasons I Like…

So, a new blog is born. In each of my entries I hope to bring you a selection of things I particularly like, in the easily-digestible form that is a ‘Top 5′ list (keep your groans of “cliché” to yourself, thank you, please). There may be a few cases of deviation from the formula, or where I go off on a complete tangent, but that’s something I like about blogs.

…and, hey! There’s this week’s topic.

‘Blogs’

Creative Control
Through the power of the internet, I can write virtually anything I wish, without having to consult an editor or producer. I can post as much or as little as I like. Although, this can backfire too – I can also potentially make a complete ass-hole of myself. And it is all my doing, no editor or publisher or whatever to blame, just me and my own stupidity.

Online In Seconds
See these words here? Aye, these words. I wrote them approximately 34 seconds ago and now they’re in your head. This gives me less margin for error – if I make a hilariously bad typo, for instance, I have a very short time in which to fix it before it’s noticed and posted on Failblog or the like.

Interactivity
If you don’t like something I’ve said, want to give some positive feedback, or just want to make penis jokes, congrats – you can comment on a blog and reach the writer in a matter of seconds. Back in ye’ olden days of newspapers, it took entire hours or even days for readers to give their feedback, and more often than not your letter went straight to the paper shredder rather than being printed.

Saves Paper
The newspaper is dying, and it’s your fault. You, internet folk. Let’s be honest, computers have a lot more going for them – old conventional paper just can’t keep up. Blogs can be much more than words too (videos, music, games, free downloads). This is good news for all us tree-hugging hippies though. Less newspapers being printed means less trees are being used. Powering a computer probably uses around the same amount of energy, but, sure we’ll sort out that problem later…

Variety
There’s a shitload of blogs out there. Everybody trying desperately to voice their opinion or whatever. In newspapers or magazines there’s often a small section of a page taken up by Mr A. Bloke and the like talking in as broad a terms as possible about a typically broad subject, in order to keep his broad audience interested. The Internet can be far less mainstream; bloggers can blog their wee bums off about anything they wish, simply because they can. Virtually every niche is satisfied – if you want to read someone’s thoughts on anything from electro-country music to shovel handles, there’s a blog for that.

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