Machinarium (Coming Not So Soon)

It's a long way off yet (the second half of '08), but it's great news to hear that the creators of Samorost have a new game in production, and the screenshots of Machinarium make it look like something that is well worth waiting for. It's billed as a "full scale adventure game" so there should be plenty to play, I just hope it isn't only "pay-to-play", and at least some of it goes on-line. That said I'll probably be digging the wallet out for this one if I have to [via nordinho].

Entry 2897, Monday, September 3rd 2007, Filed In Stuff
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Feed The Head (Updated)

Patrick writes to tell me that surrealist thing/game "Feed The Head" has been updated with an extra large dose of weird. I, however, am struggling to work out what is new, and what I just didn't find first time round.... anyway it's still a nice thing to distract you between games, just let me know what's new. I don't remember being able to open the head, and I never changed the nose before, but it's perfectly possible I just missed these before... [subbed and created by Patrick].

UPDATE: Oh goodness. Keep pulling noses! I ended up playing a weird game of keepy-uppy, and then got the head to run! Surreal magic.

Entry 2885, Tuesday, August 28th 2007, Filed In Stuff
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2D Depot (Updated)

Word on the street is that 2D Depot (originally featured back in May) has released an update. It's still far from complete (perhaps it never will be) but if you enjoyed it last time, and played as far as you could, there's more there for you to tinker with now [subbed by Greame (no relation) & Mantari].

Entry 2884, Tuesday, August 28th 2007, Filed In Stuff
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Best Blogs Ever

Jonathan over at Best Blogs Ever (featuring er... the best blogs ever) writes to tell me that he has featured lazylaces on the blog. I like to think this is because he knows quality when he sees it, rather than because he has only been up and running a couple of months and hasn't found the really good blogs yet. In fact I'm sure that's how it is... cheers Jon :)

Entry 2873, Thursday, August 23rd 2007, Filed In Stuff
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Public Appeal

Lazylaces regular Cruzinn writes to me with an important appeal/request which has led to me take some time out of game posting (don't worry they'll be back shortly) to send out a request to you all, and it would be great if you take a minute to read it, and even better if you act upon it.

Cruzinn's niece is in need of a bone marrow transplant, but a suitable donor, that's a good match, is proving hard to find. As Cruzinn says:

We have had a couple of bone marrow drives and have come up with a close match, but not an exact match. I am asking that if you want to help, now is the time.

My niece is 11 years old and has gone through more in her short life than most adults will in their life time.

I want everyone to know that if they are willing to get tested, they may match my niece or someone else who needs their life saved. It would not just be for the life of my niece.

When someone registers and gets tested, they will be put into a data bank and may be matched for someone other than my niece who may need a transplant. I'm asking for help, because we (my family) is really in need of it."

I would love to see everyone tested but understand that this is a serious commitment. I would ask that anyone considering doing this to really take the time to think about it before making a decision. What ever your decision may be, I would like to thank you for your time and consideration.

She is being treated at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation(CCF), in Cleveland Ohio. The is the Children s Hospital web site and this is the Cancer & Blood Disease site. I'm not sure if these sites work outside of The States.

I'd just like to reiterate what Cruzinn says, and point out by doing something as simple as registering and getting tested, you could be signing up to save someone's life. I haven't been registered as a bone marrow donor before, but I have given blood on numerous occasions and it's an incredibly simple thing to do with little effort involved, but it can have fantastic results. If you'd like to sign up try the following links (or do a quick Google search for the country you're in):

British Bone Marrow Registry (UK)
Anthony Nolan Trust (UK)
National Marrow Donor Program (USA)
Australian Bone Marrow Donor Registry (AUS)

Thanks for taking the time to read this.

Entry 2861, Monday, August 20th 2007, Filed In Stuff
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Caveman's Crib

Caveman's Crib is a weird flash thing it's fun to click around with. I think it's promoting a music label as, amongst other things, I found Royksopp in there, a Norwegian band I love anyway, but it's all a bit confusing, but pleasant to play with non the less [subbed by Ang].

Entry 2860, Friday, August 17th 2007, Filed In Stuff
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Feisty (Musical) Friday

Once again time pressures (I'm only working full time, selling my flat, packing and shipping my belongings to The States, selling my car, setting up my own company, preparing for a wedding, updating LL, trying to see all my English friends before I leave... I've not got much on really) mean it's just a short Musical Friday this week (featuring only one artist).

EL has sent in 1234 by Feist, an artist that I've been listening to for a while, but I hadn't listened to this track:

EL doesn't rate the video, but rates the song, but my favourite song from Feist is Mushaboom, which, until I youtube'd it for this, I didn't realise has a great video, as well as being a lovely (perfect for a Friday) song:

Entry 2856, Friday, August 17th 2007, Filed In Stuff
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Inanimate Alice

Inanimate Alice is a (slightly) interactive tale of Alice, a girl who seems to be always losing her parents. The stories are told through a mix of text, sounds and images with some interaction (more so as the chapters progress). Check out the site for chapters 1 & 2, I found chapter 3 here... interesting, and I could see it eventually becoming a completely interactive game [subbed by troy].

Entry 2853, Thursday, August 16th 2007, Filed In Stuff
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Good Luck

Good luck to Lenella (thanks for the reminder) and any other Lazylaces visitors who will be getting their UK A-Level Examination results today. I hope the endless hours of point and click gaming cause only a positive effect on your grades. At least you'll have no worries about escaping school/college :)

Entry 2852, Thursday, August 16th 2007, Filed In Stuff
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Musical Friday Mini Compilation

I covered my listening for the week early by pre-emptively doing Musical Friday on Tuesday, but that still leaves me with loads of stuff some of you have kindly sent in. I can't include it all, but here are a few to tickle your eardrums...

First up is Cillian Foster, submitting himself, and why not, a little self promotion never hurt anyone. Based in Ireland Cillian's music has a great acoustic sound I'm happy to say as that's exactly my kind of bag (baby):

Next up Char send news from down under (loving the international flavour this week) about singer Gotye who's song "Heart's A Mess" comes complete with a bizarre video (love it, and the song):

And finally, most weeks someone sends me in something ridiculous for this feature and this week Naomi does the honours with Potter Puppet Pals in "The Mysterious Ticking Noise" where the worlds of puppets, hip-hop and Harry Potter collide... OMG, anyway:

Entry 2842, Friday, August 10th 2007, Filed In Stuff
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Hey There Delilah

Musical Friday is making a sneak ~~Tuesday~~ Wednesday appearance today simply because I love Hey There Delilah by the Plain White T's and I actually heard it on the radio today here in the UK for the first time after the beautiful Kaya switched me on to it last week after it got a lot of airplay on WRNR (Annapolis area). I'm not sure why the song is picking up airplay now, as it seems it was first released an age ago, but I'm not going to stress myself looking for answers (laziness is so cool sometimes) and I'm just going to just enjoy chilling out & listening to it. Feel free to post me a comment about how you were listening to it back in '05, and how I'm so behind the times, though: I'll be bothered, really I will. For the rest of you, turn up the volume and enjoy.

And while I'm breaking my own Friday rule (I'm such a rebel) I'll share with you that I risked the UK Hype this week and downloaded Kate Nash's new album and was more than pleasantly surprised. Her current UK chart hit, Foundations, although not bad, is far from the best track on the album (imho) and it was a great buy. My favourite track is, suitably, "The Nicest Thing":

That's all for now. Time allowing, and if I manage to get the day right, Musical Friday will actually return on Friday...

Entry 2837, Wednesday, August 8th 2007, Filed In Stuff
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My Everything

Apologies to everyone who submitted something for this Musical Friday, but I haven't had time to compile them all, they're on file for future Fridays though. Instead this week I'm featuring My Everything by the walrus of love, Mr Barry White. This one has me up and dancing around my desk this week, and I can also devote it to Jennifer, who is my everything, and who I only have to wait a (tense, far too long) month to be with, as September sees me emigrating Stateside. U.S.A. here I come...