Having run out of butter one-too-many times we’ve taken to mixing sandwich fillings with sheer abandon - and not without success!
• Peanut Butter & Jam (Jelly, according to Patrick)
• Peanut Butter & Honey
• Peanut Butter & Chocolate Spread
• Chocolate Spread & Honey
I’ve been told Banana, Peanut Butter & Honey is pretty sensational, and Elvis’ favourite was Bacon & Peanut Butter…. what’s your favourite?
Today MCV (videogames trade press) published ew.com’s top 50 games of all time.
1. Tetris - PC (1985)
2. Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time - N64 (1998)
3. Doom - PC (1993)
4. Super Mario World - SNES (1991)
5. Guitar Hero - PS2 (2005)
6. Street Fighter II - SNES (1991)
7. Super Mario Kart - SNES (1992)
8. GoldenEye 007 - N64 (1997)
9. Grand Theft Auto IV - PS3 and Xbox 360 (2008)
10. Metal Gear Solid - PlayStation (1998)
11. Halo: Combat Evolved - Xbox 360 (2001)
12. Super Mario Galaxy - Wii (2007)
13. Final Fantasy VII - PlayStation (1997)
14. Resident Evil 4 - GameCube (2005)
15. Chrono Trigger - SNES (1995)
16. Gran Turismo - PlayStation (1998)
17. Sim City - Macintosh and Amiga (1989)
18. Half-Life - PC (1998)
19. Sid Meier’s Civilization II - PC (1996)
20. Gears of War - Xbox 360 (2006)
Just goes to show that good games aren’t all about textured polygons and wizzy framerates…
Full list can be found here: http://www.mcvuk.com/news/31033/EW-Our-top-50-games-of-all-time
Isn’t it strange how we seem to spend most of our lives attempting to classify the various things, people, places around us. Its almost as if we require this process in order to fully understand, to put things into perspective as it were. Racket sports as opposed to motor sports, dairy products, horror movies…
However as media planners and buyers will agree, there are certain classifications that are imperative to our work. Geographic segments, income brackets and of course demographics generally. And its the latter of these three that I think deserves some inspection.
According to NRS the Social Grading classifications were born from a survey dating back over 50 years. They also claim “it remains a highly effective way of classifying readers of different publications”. Certainly the natural hierarchy of Doctors and Lawyers still holds true, but surely there must be instances of social migration; leading to a shift in the traditional running order? For example, teachers (according to NRS) are classified as B, whilst Junior Managers come in at C1. Subtleties aside I think it’s fair to assume that teachers are generally considered underpaid for their efforts and that it’s certainly not the desirable austere profession it was some 50 years ago.
More obvious discrepancies include skilled tradesmen (sparkies, plumbers etc) that can demand a very high premium for their services now that they’re seemingly in short supply. Then there’s musicians, celebrities, and sports personalities… where do they fit into this antiquated rank?
In my opinion it no longer ‘remains a highly effective way of classifying readers of different publications’ but rather an old fashioned way of doing business that’s no longer relevant to today’s consumer.
“In Rome you long for the country; in the country oh inconstant! you praise the distant city to the stars†- HoraceÂ
Clearly Horace was a fan of this Holy of Holy cities, where; on a festive weekend break, I savoured the many sights and sounds on offer including the Colosseum, the Trevi Fountain and of course the Sistine Chapel. Each a fine example of architectural brilliance though all pale in comparison to St. Peter’s Cathedral which is simply breathtaking, and an obvious proof of the sheer might of Catholicism. One thing is for certain, Rome wasn’t built in a day.
Pretty buildings aside the next thing you’ll notice about Rome is the food. Superb pizza and al dente pasta available on every corner, or should I say Piazza… you see Rome’s topography can best be described as a string of good-looking piazzas (or squares to you and I) linked by busy roads filled with gawping tourists, which incidentally are covered in graffiti (the roads, not the tourists). Owing much to the lack of CCTV cameras and a less than zealous cleaning routine, I imagine that every Roman kid for the past 10 years has tried their hand at tagging the various streets, subways, trees, pavements, cars, trains…… you name it, its been claimed by the local yout’dem.
All in all it has to be said that Rome in my experience was a bit tacky. The “fashion” is terrible unless you’ve gone for haute couture, the subway escalators are slower than walking speed, and the locals seem terse to say the least. My advice would be to go with an agenda. We used TimeOut’s guide to Rome which served us well and found that walking was the best mode of transport.
Essentially it was a great trip, and certainly one off the list. Don’t go with massively high expectations if you’re not on an equally high budget, and I wouldn’t extend your stay beyond four or five days unless you have a particular penchant for architecture.