- 02.11.2002 -
My nephew brought around a remote control car that had just been bought for him. He was anxious to start playing with it but it takes 4 hours to charge the battery so he had to wait. When we did take it for a spin I discovered that the car (a Nikko Peugeot 206) was a tad fast. I figured it was just a cheap around-the-house toy but after running over the dog and clearing a pile of toys only to crash head first into the SKY box, we were relegated outside by my mother. Boys and their toys eh?
The road outside was pretty wet from all the rain we've been having lately and we found that the cars slick tyres meant that any turn at speed resulted in a 180. It's not a bad toy. It's faster than I expected. My RC car is in the loft somewhere, an old Tamiya Fox. I was going to get it out for my nephew when I thought he'd be old enough to not wreck it. After watching him damage the bodywork by repeatedly driving into curbs, I figured the time was not quite right.
He's gone home now and the battery is on charge again. You get about 30 minutes playtime from a 4-hour charge. Mind you I only got 5 minutes for a 30-minute charge with the Tamiya. It paid to own more than one battery.
Now I'm putting the stickers on the body shell. You have to cut them out and put them on with tweezers and make sure no air gets trapped underneath. It kinda reminds me of the days when I used to have lots of patience in order to make airfix planes and cars. I remember those little paint pots that cost 60p, and you'd paint the engine before placing it in the model. The level of detail was pretty amazing. I'm sure there are far better models to build today. I entertained the thought of doing it again for a whole minute before discarding the idea. I no longer have the patience.
There's an article in this weeks Computer Weekly on the back page. Nikko is going to fit a digital camera to the very model that we have so you can get a drivers POV from the RC car. That sounds like a cool idea. I wonder if it's for playback or live? It would be cool to sit in one room with your RC unit driving the RC car while you have a laptop on your knee so you can see how your driving is doing as you chase the family pet around the house. No idea how reverse will work though.
Some interesting news:
As some of you know I am a fan of anime and one of my favourite films is 'Ghost in the Shell'. Well I was browsing on over at Slashdot.org when I found a link to Ghost in the Shell : Stand Alone Complex. This is the upcoming animated TV series based on the original film.
- 18.11.2002 -
The days are getting shorter and the nights colder. Yep winter is just around the corner. Meanwhile I'm enjoying autumn by taking long walks with the dog and heading out to the gym to burn off those extra calories. Well you gotta make room for the Christmas pud.
Over the last few weeks I've been taking a break from creating comics. What with the problems with Keenspace and looking for work, I just didn't feel like sitting in front of the computer longer than necessary so I took some time off. Now that I am back I can promise you more strips but at a less frequent interval. Detox will now be thrice weekly not accounting for any surges in inspiration that may accrue a few more strips here and there.
That said I'm going to have a rant about Christmas. You know, that commercial time of the year when all the big corporations get their presents. Namely a bonus for all the sales that occur this time of year. You see Christmas these days just isn't the same. I remember when I'd try to stay awake to spy on Santa but I always fell asleep. I think it had something to do with my folks letting me eat as many mince pies as I wanted and to drink hot chocolate before bed. I'd be snoring in no time.
I remember taking the dog for a walk through the snow to the local woods with a pair of secateurs in my pocket and hunting for the best pieces of holly I could find, preferably with those red berries on. And some mistletoe for the grownups. How us children hated the evil that mistletoe possessed. No sooner had Auntie passed the threshold that she would utter those words as if possessed. "Is that mistletoe I see above me? You know what that means right?". Run boy RUN!
I remember tying those plastic sledges to my remote control car and pulling my sisters dollies around the snow filled garden. I'd make little humps of snow and drive real fast over them so her dollies would fall out. She didn't appreciate my creativity did sis.
Best of all was presents. An Action Man scorpion tank or a Millennium Falcon. That was worth getting everyone up at 4am for! Learning to ride your new bike through 6 inches of snow or rushing outside to show all the other kids what you got.
But now I'm an adult and I see their plan. I see how in October they start with the jingles as you walk around the shops. Christmas is fecking ages yet man! But no, there's some young girl with a Santa hat with tinsel around the brim handing out leaflets informing you about the stores seasonal special offers. Christmas starts real early for adults.
Of course there are some sad bastards out there. You know who you are. They put up their Christmas tree with lights on October 31st. WTF? Now I remember that its bad luck to keep your tree up a certain amount of days after New Year. I'm guessing there should be a rule about putting it up too early too. Hopefully it involves plagues of locusts with a taste for plastic bonsai conifers.
So hear I am and it's halfway through November and my ex suggests we go Christmas shopping. I stop to tell her "You don't know me yet do you?" as I never start until around the 20th December. Over the last two years of dating how can she not know this? Then I remember. One year I was down south and the other I was in another country. So I let her off and explain as if talking to a small child that I don't do Christmas shopping until the very last minute. She gives me that look. We went Christmas shopping.
Well I say we went shopping, she did, I kinda just looked at the toys and commented on how they looked smaller than in my day. I mean, MB Games box toys right. Don't they look smaller to you? Downfall, Kerplunk, Pop-up-pirate and Buckaroo all look as if they've been shrunk. Plus the quality just doesn't seem the same. And the prices? I can make twister and it would cost less than the tenner they want for a sheet of plastic and a spinney thing. The execs in MB tower are probably laughing their socks off as they sip their Cognac from their platinum goblets.
With the lie firmly in place that I was 'looking for my nephew' I checked out Bionics, Scaletrix, Lego, RC cars and Technics toys. I gave up on today's Action man or the Maxx Steel dude that seems popular. They look so plasticky and you can't really change their clothing. How can he slip into a tuxedo to infiltrate the girl next doors Barbie/Sindy party to make off with her camper van if his one and only non-incognito look is 'Rambo'? Geeze Louise.
There seems to be an awful lot of chemical stuff on sale today for kids. Build your own crystals (rock not included), glow in the dark (but don't consume) goo. Then there's chemistry sets. I was lucky if I got MB's Operation. Now we have little kids running around growing their own glow-in-the-dark-non-consumable-crystals.
Well, I think I've moaned long enough about Christmas for today. My sympathy goes out to all you guys out there that will no doubt be getting your ass dragged around store after store by the fairer sex in search of that illusive present for Aunty Maggie whom you haven't seen since 5th grade but who knitted you that tea cosy last year and so you just have to get her something. A lampshade dude, that's the answer, seriously.
Ok. With Bond in the air once again this Christmas, my next rant will be about all the cool gadgets for guys that are out there today that we just gotta have although 'she' will no doubt come up with a reason why you don't really need it.
Later dudes.
David Kei
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