: Sad Spaghetti, Sad Spaghetti...

Spaghetti, spaghetti, spaghetti... :(

Regular Pants readers (yeah, all three of you...) have probably learnt by now that there is no such thing as a "regular" site update here. I mean sure, there have been plenty of recurring themes over the years, but all of those individual themes are so disparate and detached from one another that it would be a struggle to find a common link between everything.

Well, arguably the common link would be me (and subsequently, idiocy) but that's not really the point I'm trying to make here. What I'm trying to do is usher in an entirely new topic that (surprise, surprise) doesn't really have anything to do with anything else I've put on the website since I started it three and a half years ago.

In the past I've talked at lengths about many different flavours of music (in both album, concert and celebrity forms), ranted, whinged and cried at various software/IT trends, and I've even managed to make some incredibly apt observations (good for tennis) about sports I know absolutely nothing about. I've also been smitten with furniture, gobsmacked by tophat-wearing demonic Europeans and if you dig deep enough in the archives, you might be lucky to find a post or two where I've obsessed over Japanese culture, language, women, technology, weather, television and/or cuisine. *ahem*

Making its grand debut in this update (— the 100th official Pants update, might I add...) is a new random and abstract theme: "appreciation of entertainment designed for 4-year olds".

I'm talking of course about The Wiggles, who announced today that Greg Page (aka The Yellow Wiggle) has left the group due to the unfortunate medical issues he suffers. The group will continue performing however, with Greg's understudy (Sam Moran) assuming the role of the yellow Wiggle from now on...

While it's true that most 4-year olds (with their feeble, undeveloped minds) can't even notice the difference, I for one will miss Greg. I haven't really thought about it in this way until today, but I suppose I could call myself a Wiggles fan — I've seen several of their videos, caught many episodes of the TV shows (ie. Wiggles World, Lights Camera Action Wiggles! and The Wiggles Show), plus I'm sure I have a few of their albums hiding somewhere on my PC.

Like most things I do in life, if I'm going to do something stupid or unusual I'll make damn sure I don't do a half-assed job — it's either 100% full-on stupidity or nothing at all. In the interests of full disclosure, my creepy Wiggles fandom extends to having watched several a few too many episodes of the Taiwanese spin-off TV show, and I will forever have the phrase "Let's go visit Jeff, and the Underwater Big Band!" etched into my memory banks because of this (fun) game.

I shudder to think how much more emotional this Pants update would've been if it were Jeff leaving instead of Greg. I mean Greg is great and all that, but the purple Wiggle is awesome!
OK, I'll shut up now... :/

: Carbon Dating

I don't have the time or inclination to play many games these days, but sometimes there'll be something that comes out which I absolutely must take a look at. To earn this automatic recognition, I might know someone who's worked on the game or the game might be part of a series (or from a developer) whom I've had good luck with in the past.

This next game fits all three criteria...

I've played every single title in the Need For Speed series since the original was released back in 1994. The latest game in the long-running franchise is called Need For Speed: Carbon, which was officially released in Australia today (although some dubious retailers have ignored the street release date and started selling the title earlier...).

I've been playing around with Carbon for a little while now, and I think it's interesting to see how even some of the minor additions/changes they've made affect the overall enjoyability of the game. I have plans to post a review here on Pants later this month, but I'd like to give Carbon a thorough play-through before I decide on how it stacks up compared to other titles in the series... Stay tuned. :)