Questa settimana, con la partecipazione speciale dei ragazzi del Rum Club italiano, ci siamo avventurati alla ricerca di un grande tesoro. Dopo aver combattuto redivivi scheletri, ci siamo impossessati del bottino; la nostra nave ha però fatto naufragio! Tra i resti della chiglia siamo fortunatamente riusciti a salvare la cosa più importante: il rum! Per accompagnare le nostre bevute, raggiunta la spiaggia, ci siamo preparati uno stufato del naufragio.
Mentre cucinavamo abbiamo chiesto ai ragazzi del Rum club di provare a raccontarci un po’ della storia e della cultura del Rum.

La playlist della serata:

• Cousins – Vampire Weekend
• Pirates (Can’t All Sail The Indian Ocean) – Forest City Lovers
• Death by a Ninja (A Love Song) – Woodpidgeon
• Smack My Bitch – Prodigy vs Enya (Mtv mash)
• Surfin’ Bird – The Trashman

Per gli amici del podcast: ora abbiamo una pagina su iTunes. L’icona qui a lato vi porterà direttamente là. L’abbonamento è gratuito e ogni settimana scaricherete automaticamente la nuova puntata. Per tutti gli altri permane il metodo tradizionale.

I simply never grow too old nor too tired of the ridiculous insulting rants from the legendary Monkey Island games. They’re quick, they’re witty and most of all; just downright silly. The recent revival of the series was nothing less than a gentle bright ray of light touching my heart. A beatiful and worthy remake of the legendary first game, and a surprisingly well crafted episodic approach by Telltale Games.

Telltale is not Lucas Arts, that much is easy to tell. But with Lucas Arts’ complete neglectance of its talent at making graphic adventures, Telltale is by all means a worthy successor. They do indeed have the right feel to their Lucas Arts sequals, and their most recent Tales of Monkey Island is most definitly their most successful attempt thus far.

I do sincerely hope that George Lucas’ dream factory once again will make games in my favourite genre. However, I do bear a great doubt in my heart. As far as I can see, Lucas Arts has almost completely ceased making video games altogether.

‘Tis indeed a sad ending to a wonderful fairy tale.

Monkey Island will always occupy a very special place in my heart. The wonderful and absurd world of Guybrush Threepwood will forever be one of my very special places of zen.

I will never stop humming the pirate song. “A pirate I was meant to be, trim the sails and roam the sea.”

Title: Fool Me Thrice, Shame On Who
Author: Paul A
Rating: All Ages
Word Count: 207
Characters: Fourth Doctor, Le Chuck

It’s a Monkey Island crossover! With insult-duelling! This one goes high up on my list of ‘Unexpected but brilliant crossovers’. (Look, you’ll either get it, or the words Guybrush Threepwood mean nothing to you and you won’t.)

“Chapter 4: The Trial and Execution of Guybrush Threepwood brings the story back around and ties together the adventure with a mixture of both expected and unexpected plot twists. Having grown accustomed to a steady stream of humor and cleverness found in past episodes, the laugh-out-loud moments don’t seem to appear quite as frequently in this latest chapter, and it takes longer for the momentum to build. The good news is things eventually do pick up and the insanity that unfolds in the final moments of this stretch of the journey is worth muscling through to the end. You can expect the forthcoming last episode will be one worth waiting for.”

Check out the full review here at Cheat Code Central.

Völlig überraschend für mich ist die Nummer 1 der Suchbegriffe, nämlich “Magersucht”, welcher 10-mal (!) mehr auf meinen Blog verweist als die Nummer 2, “Hugenotten”. “Monkey Island” ist ja inzwischen ein Klassiker, in die Top 5 aufgeschlossen haben “Fette Ärsche” und “Waschbär”. Interessant ist auch, das alle diese Suchbegriffe immer nur auf jeweils einen Artikel verweisen, da ich nur diese Artikel mit diesen Suchbegriffen verknüpft habe. “Sammel-Suchbegriffe” wie “Sarrazin” oder “Drudel” kommen erst unmittelbar danach.

Natürlich sind auch wieder einige skurrile Leckerlis dabei, wie “Ficken”, “Fickende Tiere”, “Russensex”, “Teddy fick” (??) und “Mc Chicken mit Hormonen”, schön ist auch “sonnenuntergang 9 september 2009″.

Here in Nam its been pretty crazy.  After some lovely trekking up in Sapa we came back to Hanoi briefly and then onto Ha Long Bay.  Here we enjoyed a rather luxurious boat trip and saw the beautiful limestone karsts.  Over the last few days on both trips we met some amazing people and saw some crazy things.

I have to admit a highlight of the trip was going to monkey island and seeing a rather strange

This is my island and don't you forget it

Russian lady try to pose provocatively with the monkeys. She crawled up to the alpha male monkey and made what I can only describe as bedroom eyes at the monkey while about 20 shocked tourist onlookers were very uncomfortable.  She eventually backed off after several warnings from the guide and left the poor monkey alone without doing anything inappropriate.  Shortly afterwards another woman ignored the guides advice to keep away from the monkey and was then bitten and scratched by a very angry monkey.  The woman was a bit upset and headed off to hospital when we got back.  I am sure she was OK and will in future  heed the advice of the guide when she is told not to go near the monkeys.

In the evening things turned rather boozy with free rice wine shots and even some shots of the rather lovely local delicacy of snake wine.  This is basically a jar of rice wine witha dead snake and the contents of the snakes gall bladder in it.  I have to say it was one of the most disgusting things I have ever tried.

Shortly afterwards Jo cut her foot  on some glass and luckily a lovely nurse who we met came to the rescue and bandaged it up so all is OK.

Better go as we are now on yet another bus to head down to Hue.

Fortunately last night I got completely hammered. Fortunate because late in the evening I

a) Was given a shot of ’snake wine’ to drink (read: ‘rotting dead serpent carcass in a jar of alcohol’) – tasted just like a rotting dead serpent in a jar of alcohol. Kinda rusty. You could see the scales floating.

b) Had my ankle lacerated by flying broken glass – bled profusely for about an hour, had some bar woman stick Marlboro Red tobacco on the cut to stem the flow (???!!) and;

c) Danced like a monkey.

Mmmmm... rotting snake wine anyone? Yum yum.

Luckily the obscene quantities of alcohol I had consumed earlier on in the evening did its work and numbed any pain (until this morning that is when my stinging ankle woke me up – thank goodness for Spanish mega mg ibuprofen). Luckily as well that one of our new friends, Jo was a nurse. She got very keen with her bandages and all was well. Have had to have a visit from the black doctor three times already today. Rice wine, beer, long island ice tea and snake wine do not mix well.

View from Monkey Island, Halong Bay

Spent the last few days at Halong Bay, a beautiful area of amazing limestone stacks which we sailed around. Our cabin was absolute luxury – wonderful big power shower, gorgeous white linen, air con, and demi-private balcony out the back of the boat for sunbathing. The seafood was delicious – yummy squid, octopus and fish. Painful karaoke. Even more painful rice wine. Potent as slibovitz.

We previously had a great time in Sapa, especially because we successfully managed to hijack another honeymoon – lovely Katrine and Arnaut the Belgians. All went wonderfully wrong when we got mixed up with Mimi the card shark tour guide who dared us to drink loads of rice wine and then somehow got the Belgians to strip naked and run round the homestay. The best Belgians ever.

Obligatory Cheesy Mountain Views / Us Shot

Onwards now down south on sleeper bus tonight. Edging our way slowly slowly towards Saigon down the coast. Apparently there was a tornado down there on Monday so still trying to get info on all that.

SO hard to write this post. SO a big hangover. SO going to go and have a snoozzzzzzzzze.

Dad, hope you had a really lovely bday. Glad you got the email. So sorry we were unable to call you. No reception in the middle of the sea!! Will try and call you as soon as we can. xxxxx

When I was growing up I made a lot of mistakes poor choices they led to bad decisions and regrets some say that’s part of life and this is the process that helps us to learn about almost everything. We all have regrets big or small some are harmless some are more severe some we don’t even know about.

The Monkey island Series is a regret of mine, I just didn’t know it my only experience in “point n click” styled adventure games was the Myst series and I was not a fan it was far to serious, and well…Boring. I know there are people out there, who enjoy it and from what I hear its pretty well received but I couldn’t get into it, it felt like walking through a slideshow. I grew up craving more excitement and violence from my games give me a zombie apocalypse and I’ll be at home but a huge puzzle confuses my simple run and gun mind.

That was until I discovered Monkey Island. Now I wish I picked up a copy of the secret of Monkey Island instead of a Myst demo back when I was a wee nipper

The monkey island franchise has been going strong since 1990, With 5 titles, and the newest being Tales of Monkey Island. Split into Five chapters being released on WiiWare and PC, produced by telltale games. The Game is set several years after escape from Monkey Island. This time around Guybrush threepwood has become less of a bumbling happy go lucky pirate, and seems to have become somewhat slightly famous, and not just for the fact he can hold his breath for a astounding ten minutes. (A running joke in the monkey island series.) In this adventure while trying to create a Voodoo sword, made from artifacts to destroy his evil foe LeChuck once and for all, and save his Wife Elaine Marley from LeChucks grubby hands. Guybrush Messes up his first attempt, and with a botched sword, that turns LeChuck human. Meanwhile his hand becomes infected with the “pox of LeChuck.” He also manages to infect the rest of the pirates in the Caribbean with the pox. Which then threaten to infect the rest of the inhabitants of the Caribbean, unless Guybrush finds La Esponja Grande. “The Big Sponge”, and with that he sets sail in his new ship the Screaming Narwhal. To find Elaine & sort out LeChuck for the last time.
Which is exactly where part two of the tales of Monkey Island “The Siege of Spinner Cay” picks up

I enjoyed the episode, and was left wanting more it only took my about 6 hours to complete on my own. Without resulting to “googling” a walkthrough.
I personally found the game quite short, but for  5 chapters and a bonus dvd. With each chapter being delivered to your door upon release for $34.95, I think is a good deal, and at least 25 hours worth of Gameplay.
If this were on XBLA it would be about 800MS points per episode which is about $50.00 in total. Therefore, as far as value for money is concerned this game as struck a great cord, and the fans seem to respect the titles and enjoy and anticipate the next installment. Overall, it is a very well put together game, which blends humor and exploration into a point and click, and doesn’t seem outdated. Leaving you to wonder, where Guybrush will end up next, and if everything will work out for him.

The Graphics are not top notch but they do a good job of making the game look, as it should. And keeping the fans of the series happy by not changing the format too much, But bringing the title up to date. The only issues I had with the game was the lack of new environments, or design to them they seemed quite simple and the extra voice talent wasn’t very memorable. Where as Dominic Amato put in another fine performance as Guybrush, with loads of funny lines and well written dialogue that sometimes had me clicking on things I knew where of no interest just to see some of the reactions.

Tales of Monkey Island the siege of spinner cay, is another enjoyable chapter and while it may not be like monkey island in every respect. It does a good job of keeping the series alive and anyone who enjoyed the series and is left wanting more should defiantly pick up this title and give it a play.

8.5 /10

 

Tales of monkey island is distributed by telltale games on WiiWare and Pc platforms

This review was wrote by Greg Roake
for truegameheadz

Hello audience.

I’m a gamer. And I hadn’t beaten The Secret of Monkey Island.

That is, until it was released as a special edition on the PC, XBLA, and the iPhone. I picked it up for the xbox (because I’m an achievement whore), and I had not beaten one of the classics in both adventuring gaming, and gaming as a whole.

The first thing you would notice about “The Special Edition” are the graphics. They are pretty, vibrant, but artistically just do not sit right with most people who have watched over my shoulder. There is nothing technically wrong with them, and they don’t change the presentation of any of the scenes; you can swap between the new look and classic look at any time, even in the middle of a conversation. The animations are identical, as is the pacing of any cinematics or dialog. The painted art presentation was a stylistic choice, and just rubs most people the wrong way. I played most of the game with it enabled since it provided the voice overs for dialog and widescreen presentation, but I flipped over at least once every scene and every dialog to see the characters as they were originally intended. I never felt entirely at ease with the new style.

(Personally, I was a big fan of the Curse of Monkey Island (game 3)’s hand drawn style.)

The main reason I stayed with the new art style was so that the characters were voiced during the dialogs. While this may not match the original’s text presentation, I thought the voice cast and delivery were spot on. The talented cast delivered their lines with excellent comedic timing. Since most of the game is spent gathering clues by talking to people, or listening to Guybrush self-narrate his current actions, this was very important to get right and they nailed it.

I just looked up the credits, and apparently they got the same Guybrush they’ve had since Curse of Monkey Island. As is most of the rest of the cast.

The interface, as I knew it would, bit me in the ass. The original used the classic Scumm interface (as was accessible whenever in Classic mode). The new design had a different interface. It mapped the actions to one trigger (Look, Pick up, Pull Push, Talk) and the Inventory to the other trigger. Of course, if you pulled up the inventory, that would only let you Look at items by default. To use one you had to instead pull up the Actions menu, select Use, then pull up the inventory, select the Item to Use. This would dismiss the Inventory screen. If you intended to use the item on another inventory item, you would need to hit the trigger and bring it back. This could be avoided during general navigation and dialog since a default action was always assigned to one of the main controller face buttons. But much of the actual puzzle solving required Picking Up, pulling, or pushing items. It was fairly frustrating to use. It could have been avoided if they let you use the traditional Scumm system, or simply had a Pull and Hold mechanic to allow either or both menus to pop up on any particular item (in or out of the backpack). So close, yet so far.

These are the differences between the remake and original. The core game is still quite good though the first act tales a bit too long to complete. There are a couple of obtuse puzzles, but most can be solved without resorting to the built-in hint system.

If you like adventure gaming, or want to relive this classic, I highly recommend picking it up.

Ich war ja nie so der große Adventure-Fan, habe zwar Indiana Jones, Monkey Island und ein paar andere LucasArts-Adventures gespielt, aber eins hat es mir doch sehr angetan: Baphomets Fluch (Broken Sword):

Auch der Nachfolger Baphomets Fluch 2 war klasse:

Von Baphomets Fluch 2.5 wusste ich schon länger, habe es aber vorgestern erst runtergeladen und sofort ausprobiert.

http://www.baphometsfluch25.de/

Das Spiel entstand als Fanprojekt (mindFactory) und aus Protest gegen die Teile III und IV der Reihe, die in neumodischer 3D-Grafik daherkamen. Wie die Versionsnummer schon erkennen lässt, folgt es direkt dem zweiten Teil der Serie als inoffizieller Nachfolger. Das Spiel gibt es seit Ende September 2008. Besonders hervorzuheben ist, dass teilweise die Originalsprecher für das Projekt gewonnen werden konnten.

Die Story (Zitat von der offiziellen Website des Spiels):

George Stobbart trifft das Schicksal in den letzten Monaten sehr hart. Erst muss er Nico wegen einer wichtigen Auslandsreise gen USA für ein Jahr verlassen, dann stirbt sein geliebter Großvater an den Folgen eines Tumors. Doch damit nicht genug. Als George Post aus Frankreich erhält, ahnt er nichts Gutes. Der Absender: Nicole Collard, Paris, Frankreich. Seine Vorahnung sollte sich in einer grausigen Gewissheit bestätigen: Nico ist tot! „Erst mein Großvater, jetzt Nico?“, denkt sich unser Held und nimmt das nächste Flugzeug nach Paris.

Bei seiner Ankunft: Regen, stürmischer Wind, so als hätte Petrus die passende Antwort auf die Situation Georges. In Nicos Aparment der nächste Schock: Nico ist am Leben. Völlig verdutzt erzählt er ihr von dem Telegramm, doch Nico scheint nicht sehr überrascht zu sein. Im Gegenteil, George wird von Nico gebeten, das Apartment zu verlassen. Es ist nichts von Freude zu spüren über das unerwartete Wiedersehen.

Seine Gedanken immer noch sortierend hört George im Café de la Chandelle Verte – dort, wo alles begann – von André Lobineau eine beunruhigende Geschichte über Nico, die in ihm den unerfreulichen Gedanken keimen lässt, dass die Neo-Templer noch immer existieren könnten…

Der Eindruck: Spitzenmäßig! Grafisch lässt sich das Spiel lediglich durch eine verbesserte Auflösung unterscheiden. Ansonsten wurden Personen und Schauplätze mit ähnlicher Detailverliebtheit und Genauigkeit nachgezeichnet.

Die Reise beginnt in Paris und führt unseren Helden George Stobbart zu vielen Altbekannten Orten. Sie geht weiter und führt über York (England), Portugal bis nach China, wo das Finale stattfindet.

Die Rätsel sind ähnlich gestrickt wie bei den Vorgängern und wer an einem verzweifelt, oder wie ich wenig Zeit zum Knobeln hat, dem helfen Komplettlösungen wie auf Adventurespiele.net oder Gamona.de.

Einfach nur Wow. Ich bin schlicht begeistert von diesem Bild und hoffe, dass ich von Dominus eine entsprechend aufgelöste Fassung des Bildes für einen Posterdruck bekomme. Dann mach ich mir dieses Bild als Geschenk für Weihnachten mit einem passenden Rahmen

Neben diesem Bild gibt es noch zahlreiche andere fantastische Werke auf seinem Blog Pandemoniumart!

View from Khao Takiab

Hua Hin is the best beach spot within easy reach of Bangkok – by a long way, in my opinion.

Pattaya remains the busiest, but its popularity is more due to it being Thailand’s sex central – and unabashed position as such – rather than its unremarkable beach, dirty sea and culture-less city centre.

Cha-Am and Bang Saen have a nice atmosphere to them, but their beaches are gritty, with parasols spoiling most of the views (Thais like to be beside the seaside as much as Europeans, but hate the prospect of the sunshine darkening their skin).

Ko Samet and Ko Chang are both wonderful, but at around 4-5 hours’ drive from Bangkok, plus a ferry ride, they’re just a tad too far for a short hop.

Hua Hin, then, at 2-3 hours’ drive from Bangkok, is not only viable but also offers a lot that the aforementioned seaside spots don’t. I went there last weekend, my fifth trip there, and enjoyed it as always.

The beach is not world class, such as you’d find in Thailand’s picture-perfect south, but is certainly attractive. Fine, almost-white sand squeaks underfoot, while the water is clean and clear. The dreaded parasols can be found in the stretch of beach closest to the city centre, but it’s only a short walk to find long stretches of uninterrupted sand.

The seafood restaurants are great and the night market is one of the best in Thailand. The bar scene is a little low-key, with only one nightclub that I know of, one stretch of foreigner-oriented girly pubs and/or sports bars, and a few quieter drinking holes, but this adds to the relaxed feel of the town. If I want vibrant nightlife, Bangkok has it in spades, so sometimes it’s nice to somewhere a little more chilled out.

Indeed, there’s something of a “middle-aged” feel to the place. The majority of the western tourists in Hua Hin fit this age bracket. Well, that is somewhat true of Pattaya too, although the difference is that in Hua Hin they are mostly couples, while in Pattaya they are mostly men on the prowl. Hua Hin is attractive to this demographic because it is laid-back, safe, developed and close enough to Bangkok for those who don’t have the time or inclination to go further.

The city itself is nice enough, but there are also a number of attractions nearby, whether the Chinese temple and its resident macaques at Khao Takiab, or Kaeng Krachan and Khao Sam Roi Yod national parks, the Buddha Cave, zoo and Monkey Island.

If I have one criticism, it’s that there is not much “Thai-ness” to Hua Hin. There is still an element of its former fishing village ambience to be found in the pier-style wooden guesthouses and restaurants along Naresdamri Road, but for the main part the city is now geared up for the predominantly European – and significantly Scandinavian – tourist and expat customer base. Western restaurants outnumber Thai, while tailor shops are even more ubiquitous here than elsewhere in Thailand, and many pubs proudly fly British, German and Scandinavian flags.

But I suppose this is inevitable, and at least it’s not yet Westernised enough to have a Queen Victoria pub (as seen in Pattaya) or a Yorkshire Inn (Phuket). If I want the full Thai cultural hit, I can find it in many places in Bangkok, and of course much of wider Thailand remains off the mass tourism trail. The appeal of Hua Hin is that it is a beach town accessible from Bangkok without having to get on a plane or long-haul bus or train. Furthermore it is clean, safe and attractive – which none of the other “local” beach towns can offer all of.

Weihnachten lässt ja nicht mehr allzu lang auf sich warten

Irgendwann die Woche: Tales of Monkey Island, Chapter 4: The trial and execution of Guybrush Threepwood