Just a short note to explain the current situation on this site. You may have noticed recently if you have tried to view any of my old posts that the pictures are not showing up. Basically, my site was hacked about a month ago. Thanks to the joint efforts of the web team and my good friend Dean Saliba, they managed to limit the damage that the hacker did and Dean backed up my database so that all of the posts were safe.

The problem is that for some reason the pictures were not restored when the site was brought back online. We’re talking 1,100+ images. I know that the pictures are still out there somewhere. They are still showing up in Google Images search. But the web team still have not got back to Dean regarding whether or not my pictures were backed up. And I don’t really have time to manually save over a thousand images and then upload them into WordPress. The photos save quite small anyway so I’m not sure it would be the same. Unfortunately it seems as though there’s no straightforward solution. But watch this space.

Yes, I know it’s been out a while. But It’s also been a while since I reviewed anything. And I mention Final Fantasy often enough, I’ve made no attempt to hide the fact that I am a huge fan of the franchise (with the obvious exceptions of X-2 and the first CGI movie “The Spirits Within”. Don’t even get me started on those.)

So, why FFXIII?? Well, The Girlfriend has a PS3 and very kindly bought me a second hand copy. So I was finally able to play the game, 18 months after its release date. My experiences with the previous FF games I’d played (VII, VIII, IX, X and XII) had instilled in me an idea of what to expect from a new one – that balance between the familiar and the groundbreakingly new. Sometimes the new features take a bit of getting used to, but I’ve yet to be disappointed by any of the FF titles apart from X-2 which was a sequel and therefore, in my opinion, not a true FF title. So I had high hopes when I slotted the disc in for the very first time.

Final Fantasy XIII

Publisher: Square
Released: March 2010

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As you have probably noticed, I haven’t posted one of these reviews for ages. If you read my last two posts, you will probably know why. But far from allowing my changed circumstances to hinder my output any further, I thought I’d turn it around and use it to my advantage.

Fortunately The Girlfriend likes dining out as much as I do, and over the last few weeks I’ve noticed she is clued up on food and very observant when it comes to small details that even I sometimes miss. So the other week when I took her out to dinner for our two month anniversary (how sad are we!!) I thought I’d ask for her help in writing a review of the place. So this is our first joint review. Here goes…

Italian Food Thats Worth Staying Home For

Restaurant Averna
142 Walton Road, East Molesey, Surrey

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So every guy’s worst nightmare is around the corner. What to buy the girlfriend for Christmas. (And I know she will be reading this so I’ve got to remember to be nice or else I might not get anything in return but a nice juicy slap!) but hopefully she might drop me a few subtle hints along the way as she often does when she wants something.

Last week if you read my blog post I was moaning about what to get my mum, who is a pretty difficult person to buy for. But it had not even occured to me that i should put some proper thought into what I am going to get the girlfriend as well as Christmas is just under two months away and I don’t really have a clear-cut idea of what sort of gift she will be expecting.

It will be our first Christmas together so I want to make sure I  get her something she will really like, so rather than showering her with a load of pointless Christmas Gifts I have decided to get her one big present and put all my thoughts and energies into that. Plus I might save a bit of money on the wrapping paper.

This is a paid review

In case you hadn’t noticed, I’ve been taking a break from updating this website. I know, I didn’t bother to tell you all that I would be taking it. How rude. Well to be honest I didn’t exactly plan for it.

So, what happened??

Well, since my last proper blog post (which I think was as far back as Wesley’s birthday), a lot has happened. I’ve met a girl, relocated to Surrey, and was recently elected as President of Zambia. Well, two of those things are true anyway.

Yes, I now have a girlfriend.
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Some of my more loyal readers may remember a post I wrote at around this time last year, in which I shared my annual frustrations over what I should buy my mother for her Christmas present. She is not the easiest person in the world to buy for as her tastes keep on changing all the time, and so naturally every year I am faced with the same old dilemma.

Well, with the festive season just around the corner once again, I can tell you that it has not got any easier. I have been on a bit of a budget recently, so splashing out on something ridiculously lavish was unfortunately out of the question. I thought about getting her some perfume, but I remembered a couple of years ago I did that and she complained that I got her the wrong kind. I thought about getting her some chocolates, but I know exactly what will happen – they will be sitting in the fridge for about three months just until I think she has forgotten about them, then I will eat them and she will moan that she was saving them.

So I asked my girlfriend for advice. (Yes, I now have a girlfriend. More on that later ) Anyway, she told me that a couple of years ago she bought her dad a subscription to some fishing magazine that he reads religiously. He was apparently very pleased. So I searched the net for discount magazine subscriptions and quickly learned that they didn’t have to cost so much if you bought them online. In fact, I think one would be well within my budget and I could even get her something else with the money that’s left.

Now I just hope that she doesn’t read this and find out what I’m getting her for Christmas.

This is a paid review

Nowadays, with the internet becoming steadily more accessible across the globe, problems we may have faced twenty years ago are now becoming considerably easier to solve with just a few clicks.

Take languages, for example. Twenty years ago translating a simple word or phrase might have meant a trip to the library. Now of course we have Google Translate, with which we can decipher foreign languages at the click of a button.

The online translators are all well and good if you’re trying to find out the Japanese word for “Happiness” or wish your Hungarian friend a happy birthday in his native tongue. But have you ever wondered what you would do if you suddenly needed, say, a 300 page legal document translated from Greek to English, for example? When the online servers just can’t hack it, it’s time to call in the help of a professional translation company.

My friend Matt recently found himself in this predicament. He speaks only a little bit of Greek and had a deadline looming on a property he was looking to buy in Crete. So he had to find a professional translation service. As he was also busy with family problems, I volunteered to help him out.

Finding an organisation that can not only meet one’s needs but is also reliable, accurate and versatile can be a huge challenge. Ploughing through the myriad of translation agencies available online out of the many different ones on offer, I came across a company called Rosetta Translation who really stood out for me. For each project, they put together a team of hand-selected language professionals so in effect it is a tailor made service designed to meet each client’s specific needs.

I gave Matt their contact details and he got in touch with them. This was a few weeks ago, and I got a call from him today saying it had all gone through okay. So hopefully I’ll get an invite to his housewarming party. Time to send him a message reminding him to stock up on Ouzo. Now, what’s the Greek for “See you soon”, I wonder??

In case any of you missed my status update on Facebook in the week, I have somehow managed to delete every single file on my PC. I had to re-install Windows and restore my files from a back-up flash drive, but I stupidly clicked “cut” instead of “copy”. To sum it up in two words… Backup fail.

Most of the stuff on there wasn’t important, however, and some of it I have saved elsewhere. But I lost the novel I have been writing since I was 15. I say lost it, the copy I have on my old PC is over 2 years old so I’ve basically lost all the work I’ve done on it in the last 2 years. So I am not a happy Raven right about now.

Speaking of novels, someone sent me a link to the Facebook fan page of this e-novel called “Archangel’s Fury”, a biblical thriller of epic proportions. I haven’t read a good fantasy novel for ages (for the want of a better term), as I’ve been reading mainly non-fiction lately, yet I might have to give it a go as it does sound quite good.

Being an e-novel, which is something I’m not too familiar with, I would have to buy a Kindle or another similar device to really appreciate it. I can’t really afford one at the moment but if you can (or already own one), then you can purchase “Archangel’s Fury” on this well known  book site named after a rainforest in South America. And if you do, please let me know what you think as I may buy a Kindle very soon and this will be at the top of my list if I do.

This is a paid review

Africa – The Last Culinary Frontier

Shaka Zulu Restaurant, Lounge and bar
Stables Market, Chalk Farm Road, Camden, London NW1 8AB

I love African food and am of the opinion that it is woefully overlooked and largely underrepresented in London, and in the mainstream as a whole. So when Shaka Zulu opened its doors last year I was relieved that finally someone had come along and was doing high end African cuisine in the heart of London and I remember thinking… “This could really take off”.
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Just a short review, this one. I saw this film recently and thought I’d review it as it’s still fairly recent.

Gran Torino (2008)

Director: Clint Eastwood

Some of Clint Eastwood’s more recent films in a directing role seem to have attracted quite a bit of praise. Mystic River, Changeling and Invictus have all been recommended to me by friends over the past few years although I haven’t checked any of those out yet. But Gran Torino – why Gran Torino, you might ask?

Well, normally I rent most of my DVDs from The Film Shop in Broadway Market. But my folks are away at the moment. My stepdad has quite an impressive DVD collection, but he’s quite funny about anyone touching it but him. He gets really annoyed. By the way I know some of my family read this and I hope they will not rat on me. Read the rest of this entry »