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REASONS TO BE CHEERFUL |
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By Matthew Craig |
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In no particular order: |
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SPIDER-MAN PRO SKATEBOARDER 2 |
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Yeah, yeah, I know. It's Tony Hawk's game. |
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But it's been a while since I played it as anyone other than everybody's favourite friendly-neighbourhood wall-crawler. Even though I have a good stable of player-created characters (including Marvel Comics' Luke Cage and two alter-ego's of my own - one with an enourmous white afro), ever since I bought this game, it's been Spidey all the way. I love this game for its sense of constant motion, and its feeling of freedom. I love the smoothness of the game, and the kick-ass music (which I switch off in-game, but what the hey - I sometimes play as myself with a big white afro - what do I know?). Currently my favourite five-minute (read: half-hour) distraction. |
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Hence the picture at the right. The chap in the background is one of Spidey's oldest supporting cast members. He happens to have a bit of a dislike of the Web-Spinner. I'm sure that it's only a coincidence that Spidey's mooning him...isn't it? |
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Related items: |
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The Spider-Man stable of comics |
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The Spider-Man movie - biggest movie of next year. |
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What?, you say. What about all the sequels? |
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Bah. |
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Click on picture to see the Spidey Grind wallpaper, hand-drawn (and you can tell) by me! |
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Star Wars 2? Jar Jar Bint. |
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Matrix 2? Abort / Retry / Fail ? |
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Lord of the Rings 2? Beaten Up by Midgets. |
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A great deal of the appeal of the Spider-Movie is contained within the copper wiggery of this young actress: |
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Kirsten Dunst |
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She's a little hottie. And I mean that in the nicest possible way. I'm trying to refrain from turning this site into a "PHWOARR" site. So Kirsten (and the Somerfield woman) are the only ones you'll see me go on about. |
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Kirsten plays Peter Parker's friend Mary Jane Watson, and she also seems to be playing the role of Cast Member Most Hyping the Movie. As far as I can work out, she's got another three films coming out before Spider-man. Yet, wherever she goes, she's willing to answer any and all questions about her role as the female lead in next May's web-fest. She's a fantastic actress, and I suggest you go and see her playing alongside Eddie Izzard's Charlie Chaplin (!) in the film adaptation of "The Cat's Meow," later this year. |
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Kirsten as Mary Jane. Coloured in by me. |
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But lest I forget that this isn't a Spider-Man site: |
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Sometimes, when it rains, it pours |
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I love the rain. I love getting soaking wet. I especially love it when it rains in summer. It's such a relief after all that nasty-ass heat. I have vivid memories of a holiday chalet in Glasgow where it rained like nothing I've seen since. Huge, heavy droplets that drove into you like sloshy stones. The air became charged, and there was always the delicious possibility of thunder and lightning -. which it delivered in abundance. Fantastic. |
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Karate |
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I miss doing Karate. The problem with not knowing how long I'm going to be home is that I don't think I'm going to have the chance to get back into Karate with a local club. |
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I loved the joy of movement that I got with Karate. It didn't matter that I wasn't a natural at it or anything. I mean, I learnt as fast as anyone, but that wasn't the point. It wasn't the speed (or the power) of Karate that appealed to me. Instead, it was the sheer joy of doing something physical. Of learning new movements, and new ways of thinking. Better than dancing, even if my pants had a tendency to fall down. |
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I don't think I'd be any better in a fight than I was before I started - there are other, overriding issues at work there - I do think I'm better for doing Karate than nothing at all. And I miss it like billy-o. |
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Oss! |
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Comics |
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Not saying any more than that. |
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For now. |
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The future is now |
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It's 2001. Two Thousand and One. I can't believe we're still here. It's fantastic. The future is laid out before us. New technologies. New science. New ways of thinking. All we have to do is keep walking forwards. Keep walking forwards, and grab it. |
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Cartoon Network |
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Dexter's Laboratory. |
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The PowerPuff Girls. |
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Courage, the Cowardly Dog. |
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I wish I'd had that when I was growing up. Fantastic cartoons for people of all ages. |
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This website |
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Because I've never kept up this much creativity without having to go on tranquilisers before. |
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Thanks for reading. Normal, morose service resumes tomorrow (um, it's 5.16 am; I mean "later today...") |
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Matthew Craig, tired, probably going to be sued for this site, but enjoying every minute of it, 1st August, 2001 |
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