Sick and some PC problems (of course)

Almost inevitably, I’ve developed a chest infection from my 7 day marathon work run conducting pilgrims on World Youth Day.  While I don’t regret the experience (or the cash), I’m pretty stuffed now, and naturally the old creative juices aren’t quite a’flowin.

Even better, I’ve been having universal PC problems; the videocard in the desktop is about 5 minutes short of melting down completely, the laptop has been a bit twitchy, and I haven’t even been able to get the wireless up and running on Sam’s new one!

The good news is that I am in the process of gaining a new regular position as a games reviewer; more info as that develops over the next couple of days. 

I’m taking some time off to recuperate, but I’ll be back to writing by the weekend, promise ;)

  

- Tim Sweeney

So very tired :(

As I sort of mentioned last week (I think), I’m currently doing a 7-day work contract which has sort of screwed up my writing schedule just a little, especially considering they’re 10 hour days that end at 3 am.

It’s been a very tiring and physically draining, but rather interesting experience working for the Ministry of Transport helping Pilgrims here for World Youth Day get to their lodgings, work out when and where they have to go during the day, and generally just preventing the chaos that having thousands of non-english speakers descending on Campbelltown at midnight can bring.

It’s been very tough standing around for hours in the cold, often with long periods of inactivity, but kind of rewarding too.  It’s been amazing seeing all these pilgrims, often with little-to-no grasp of English, and always exhausted and freezing from a long, cold day out, still be in such high spirits at the end of each day, laughing and never complaining at all.

The best part of the whole job has been that us Ministry people have been, on the whole, largely superfluous.  The pilgrims have all helped each other out, everyone has learnt where they need to go, and there hasn’t been a single outbreak of swearing or violence that didn’t stem from a drugged-up local (seriously, Campbelltown? What the hell was the Catholic Church thinking!)

Anyway, that’s it for my news update today.  We should be back to normal by tuesday or wednesday next week, depending on how I recover.

   

- Tim Sweeney

All quiet on the Wombat front

Hey everyone,

I haven’t forgotten the site, but things are starting to get really hectic at the moment; next week, for example, I’m spending 7 days straight working a rather brutal series of 10 hour night shifts, so unfortunately things are going to be a little sporadic.

The good news is that I have a couple of articles almost finished, one of which should hopefully be done for tonight; will it be part 2 of the Disastrous Villains piece, a review of Unreal Tournament III, an album review, or something else entirely?  Only time and my brain will tell.

I’m looking forward to having enough time to write just for the enjoyment it brings me; this whole working thing is interfering in my ‘me’ time!

  

- Tim ’so very tired’ Sweeney

Interview with Drew Karpyshyn on The Escapist

So this is the big news then!

After much secrecy and whatnot, I can finally reveal that I have an article published on The Escapist!

I pitched the idea of interviewing Lead Writer from BioWare and best-selling author Drew Karpyshyn for the Star Wars themed issue; the idea was accepted, we rolled with it, and that rather chunky feature is what we ended up with.

I’m really happy with the quality of the article, and the fact it appears to be the lead story for this issue is just amazing.

This is my first major published article, so I’m really just very happy right now.

I would just like to thank Drew for being willing to talk to me in so much depth, and to The Escapist for giving me a shot.

- Tim Sweeney

Some new articles in less used categories

Hey everyone,

Don’t worry, I haven’t forgotten the site; like I’ve said, things are just really hectic at the moment.

I’ve been working on a couple of different little projects (I’m struggling to complete things as I go due to being scatterbrained), and should have some out in the next couple of days.

These include a bunch of book reviews (including the last Harry Potter book), a new set of features which are a counter to my surprisingly popular Interesting Gaming Villains series, and maybe even some music-based stuff too.

The gaming side of things is unfortunately a little slow at this stage; there’s been few games released that I’m desperate to have (or review), and my current PC won’t run any of the stuff I’m really excited about on that platform…which is why I’m currently in the process of saving up for a new one! Woo!

Finally, there will be some rather important and exciting news regarding myself, a certain renowned publication, and much self-congratulating in the near future.

- Tim Sweeney

Downtime

Hey guys,

Experiencing some problems with the net, in addition to the fact I’m working my arse off at the moment on a few projects.

Things seem to have calmed down a bit today, so I should be back to your regularly scheduled ranting and opinionated reviews by the end of today.

  

- Tim Sweeney

10,000 Hits

Wow,

10,000 hits is just amazing.  I don’t want to gush or anything like that, but I would like to thank everyone that has taken the time out to read the site; I hope that a fair few of you are regular readers and not spam bots or people searching for Hitler.

Regardless though, thanks for encouraging me to keep working hard and knocking articles out.

Couldn’t have done it without you all!

- Tim Sweeney 

Supernova Expo write up coming your way

Quicky.

I attended the Supernova pop-culture expo yesterday with Sam and my mate John.

It was a good time, and quite good for a laugh (as well as much in the way of merchanidise.

I’ve taken a shitload of videos and photos, particularly of the cosplay competition (hilarious), and will be posting a detailed write up and whatnot tomorrow.  There may also be a big announcement re published, high-profile work, but can’t guarantee that yet.

Cheers,

- Tim Sweeney

Ultra busy again

Hey everyone,

Sorry about the lack of updates these last few days; I’ve been working flat out on some features for various things, as well as getting my portfolio out to pretty much every website, magazine, and newspaper that has the remotest interest in publishing anything.

I have some things in the works (of course), including a couple of movie reviews, a new round of games features, AND the Ranting Wombat returns tomorrow after a week long absence.

Also, wth is with all the hits on the site by people searching for Hitler?  That’s just peculiar.

  

- Tim Sweeney

Competition: GamingSA and Warner Music present Disturbed Indestructible Competition

GamingSA (who I regularly contribute reviews to) is currently holding a competition in partnership with Warner Music.

The prize? A copy of awesome metal band Disturbed’s latest album, Indestructible!  I’m a huge fan of Disturbed going way back to highschool, so rest assured I’ll be entering myself.

I’ll quote the competition details below, but I’d definately recommend ducking over there and having a look:

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Courtesy of Warner Music Australia, we’re giving away ten copies of ‘Indestructible’ CD, the latest album from chart-topping metal band Disturbed, which hit shelves Saturday 7 June.[Please read through the competition details and Terms & Conditions via this link].

For your chance to win a copy of the ‘Indestructible’ CD simply take a screen capture of a moment you believe best describes the word “Indestructible” in any game, along with a caption that features the word “Indestructible”. Your screen capture may be of any game and may be photoshopped if you so wish.

Mail your screen capture and caption along with full name, GamingSA forum username and postal address to competition@gamingsa.com and await judgement!

The best ten entries will be awarded each a copy of the CD ‘Indestructible’ by Disturbed. Entries will be judged based on a range of criteria, which may or may not include lulz, shock, horror, intelligence - or whatever, really.

You may enter as many times as you like, however you may only win once.

 

We look forward to receiving many crazy, smart, funny, sophisticated, interesting and low-brow entries. Try your hand, send what you can think up and good luck!

- - -

Head on over to GamingSA for your chance to win!

   

- Tim Sweeney