The Micro Mart Magazine Blog

2006-11-30T03:02:00.000-08:00

Axicom sent us a chocolate advent calendar.

Simon: Shall we just open all the doors now and eat the chocolate?

So we did.

Merry Christmas!

Soup, Soup, A Tasty Soup Soup, A Spicy Carrot and Coriander (Chilli Chowder!)

2006-10-23T05:22:00.000-07:00

Add another entry to the list of Weird Things Tony and I Have Eaten At Work:-

Minestrone Soup (at our desks).

Previously:

- Peanut butter and banana sandwiches
- Cheese and crackers
- Candyfloss.

-- Sarah "When are we going to make popcorn, then?" Dobbs

I'm kind of a big deal.

2006-10-11T07:44:00.000-07:00

The new Beyond the Sea is apparently Afternoon Delight, by Will Ferrell and co from the Anchorman soundtrack.

Awesome.

-- Sarah "I want to be Brian Fantana for Halloween" Dobbs.

Cake, Glorious Cake

2006-10-05T08:59:00.000-07:00

Simon The Editor has cake. As if that weren't momentous enough, he's singing a little song to signal the fact that he's eating it. A "cake jingle", if you will.

Alternately, I'm listening obsessively to the song Fair by Remy Zero from the Garden State soundtrack, and researching artificial intelligence. Hum.

-- Sarah "just call my agent" Dobbs.

I Return!

2006-10-02T03:31:00.000-07:00

Yup, I'm back from the land of mounties and maple syrup, and have just about managed to recover from changing time zones twice in the space of five days!

Business as usual, then.

Oh, except, there are workmen outside digging the road up, and they're really LOUD and ANNOYING.

-- Sarah "International Movie Star" Dobbs

Return of the Sarah

2006-09-27T06:30:00.000-07:00

She's back from Canada tommorow, having been an extra in a Uwe Boll movie.

Also, I bought Sea Monkeys. They're not doing much at the moment, but by next week they should be trained assassins.

-tony-

Stop Press

2006-09-01T07:40:00.000-07:00

Tony is a cheating cheat and has been deleting posts that were in any way derogatory about him!

Shocking behaviour.

The big girl.

Silly Sarah

2006-08-29T06:41:00.000-07:00

She put her shoes on the wrong feet.

No Snakes On A Tony

2006-08-21T06:19:00.000-07:00

Yes, well, whose fault is that?

-- Sarah

No snakes for me

2006-08-21T04:56:00.000-07:00

I haven't seen Snakes On A Plane... yet.

-tony-

Snakes On A Micro Mart Blog

2006-08-21T03:07:00.000-07:00

Snakes on a Plane was better than great. It was awe-inspiring.

-- Sarah

New surroundings...

2006-08-21T02:35:00.000-07:00

Well, this is strange.

The last time I posted on this blog, I was in the middle of Birmingham, surrounded by entirely different people. As the only full time survivor of Micro Mart from that day (basically, the only one who decided to follow the magazine to its new home), I now find myself in the midst of new people.

So, before I get into the midst of blogging from our new home, I'd like to again thank all the Birmingham Micro Mart team for their work on the magazine. It's odd down here without you all.

Yet a hearty welcome to the new recruits, who are already making their presence firmly felt. Sarah, Tony and now Martin are making their mark already, and it's great to have them on board.

Snakes on a Plane was great, by the way.

Simon

Campaign To Stop EVERYTHING

2006-08-18T07:05:00.000-07:00

Right, apparently, someone's started a campaign to be rid of the Caps Lock key. In the spirit of banning stuff, here are some things the Micro Mart staff would like to prohibit:-

- Incorrectly used ellipses
- Movies that last longer than two hours
- Smelly people on trains
- Charity muggers who stand between us and our lunch
- Incorrectly used apostrophes
- Pointless blogs
- Too many videos and songs on MySpace profiles (i.e. any)
- Spam that doesn't really contain pictures of Anna Kournikova, at all
- Late-running trains
- Overpriced sweeties

More to come, undoubtedly.

Yeah, Well...

2006-08-18T06:55:00.000-07:00

I was clearly too busy watching Chopper Chicks in Zombietown, and other such improbably titled horror movies.

-- Sarah

Mmm... Danish

2006-08-18T06:45:00.000-07:00

It's come to our attention that Sarah, the Editorial Assistant, has gained access to the Micro Mart blog and is currently using it to promote Romanian boybands.

Anyway, today we discussed the amount of syllables in my name. Simon reckons it's too much. Too much for what though?

Other highlights include buying three Danish pastries for £1 and a lively conversation regarding the finer points of Con Air, which Sarah hasn't seen.

-Anthony Ian Enticknap (eight syllables) -

Numa numa

2006-08-18T06:43:00.000-07:00

Song to annoy your coworkers with today:-

Dragostea din Tei, by O-Zone.

-- Sarah

Somewhere Waiting For Me...

2006-08-16T05:20:00.000-07:00

A new game has gripped the Micro Mart office!

Well, it's not really a game, that would imply there are rules, or some sort of purpose. Basically, the "game" consists solely of one person starting to sing or hum Beyond the Sea and seeing how long it takes for the tune to infect everyone else's consciousness, at which point they too start singing it ...

For hours.

Yeah, we're easily entertained.

(And it's more fun than horse-racing.)

-- Sarah

We're Baaaaaack!

2006-08-11T05:08:00.000-07:00

It's been nine months, almost to the day, since this blog was last updated. In that time, Micro Mart has joined Dennis Publishing, moved to London, and hired some new staff.

Like me, for example.

The blog didn't really get off the ground last time we tried it -- let's see how we fare this time.

For now, though, it's Friday, we're all very caffeinated (because we've got posh coffee in the office) and I'm off to play Crazy Chicken Kart 2.

Catch you later!

-- Sarah

That Monday feeling...

2005-11-14T15:11:00.000-08:00

Here we all are, suffering through a busy Monday and recovering from our weekend.

The photographs from Marks wedding have surfaced, no doubt one will feature in the caption competition at some point. John (editor of Music Mart) is suffering from a lack of sleep, but that is the price of being a new dad. Michelle is suffering with soggy floors in her restored classic Mini and I'm trying to figure out what to get friends for Christmas.

Speaking of Christmas the tree in the centre of Birmingham is a bit of a lazy effort, Santa's grotto is gradually being built and a rather imposing helter skelter has appeared too! Isn't the festive period great!?

It's Grim Outside

2005-11-10T10:32:00.000-08:00

Why do we have such grim winters here? I wouldn't mind if it was freezing cold but do we have to have this dull, grey stuff? Annoying.

Mind you, at least it makes Simon's shirts look brighter!

Update

2005-11-04T17:27:00.000-08:00

Mark, for all his big talk, lost again.

The fool.

Simon

Favourite Tunes To Work To

2005-11-04T15:26:00.000-08:00

Hullo,

Well, here I was, working away and I felt some time out was required. Time to post on our blog.

I'm listening away to much music while I'm hard at it (work) and it got me thinking - which is the best type of music to listen to whilst working?

For me, it's Lemon Jelly every time. I'm defo at my most productive if that's on in the background. Worst music to have on in background? Radio One. It. Is. Dross.

Oh, and in other news, I BEAT SIMON AT PRO EVO! Let the world rejoice! I'm a confidence player you see - if anyone out there fancies a go though, I'm ready! - and my confidence was knocked badly the other week. Not today though. Simon was visibly shaking as I played him. I worried him, I just know it.

Come to think of it, maybe he was just chilly...

Yeah, that was it. The window next to him was open.

Ah well.

This weekend, I'll be mostly playing on Star Wars Battlefront 2 with my brother. WOO HOO!

Til next week.

Moakle (Mark)

PS Check out the new Podcast online. Feedback is always welcome

That Thursday Feeling...

2005-11-03T15:35:00.000-08:00

Here we are again, it's Thursday, the latest issue has gone on sale... I've updated the website and the gang have just been huddled round the microphone doing the very latest podcast. Sadly we haven't had a single jingle sent in to us... We may have to make Mark sing soon... Be afraid (it could be worse, it could be ME singing)...

On the plus side, I am off out for a meal tonight (which is nice). And have a weekend of mayhem in World of Warcraft ahead of me (does the fun never end in Micro Mart towers?).

Of course Christmas is rapidly approaching, the adverts have started on TV and the nightmare of what to buy people is beginning... Just treat me to a lot of gadgets should you get the urge!

Oh and congratulations to John Moore, editor of our Music Mart magazine, he is now a proud father. Mum and baby daughter are doing well too!

Phil

Let Battle Commence

2005-11-03T08:46:00.000-08:00

My online name? Er, Brumgrunt.

The game? Pro Evo 5.

The format? PC.

Any fancy a go? Mark is just too easy to beat....

Tee Hee Hee

2005-11-03T07:39:00.000-08:00

It's about time I poked my nose in here... *Duly pokes nose in*

So, what's been going on today then?

Well, it's been raining, we've done another Podcast - which Mark is desperately trying to claw down from half an hour of rambling to something more respectable - and Dean and I have just had a ten minute chat about Transformers, but I won't go into that.

Phil's been full of the joys of 'Rome' after having watched it last night and Mark's been stressing slightly over the monitor stand he's looking at for Jo. It looks like an instrument of torture to me.

All that aside though, I find myself wondering why there's a piece of red tinsel still stuck on the ceiling from last year. Make that three pieces of red tinsel.

Anyway, that's enough rambling from me. I do enough of it in TFTT. ^.^

M

Who am I kidding? I have no honour to defend

2005-10-26T11:41:00.000-07:00

Bum. I messed the timing of that post up too.

Simon has a point

Mark

Curious.

2005-10-26T09:37:00.000-07:00

It's a strange thing. We all work on a computer magazine, use computers each and every day and have done for years upon years of our lives.

Yet that doesn't mean that everything goes to plan.

Take MarkTheDepEd. His comic attempts to simply log in to Blogger and make a meaningful post have thus far left us, well, amused. Fortunately, he's managed it now. Bless him.

Perhaps it's because he lost at Pro Evolution Soccer again yesterday. That might be it. But he should be used to that by now.

Me, I've been playing F.E.A.R. over the past few days, and on the whole I'm finding it an anti-climax. I've got the settings such that it looks a treat on an X800 card, and whilst there's been the occasional bit of slowdown, on the whole it's running fine. The game in the early parts was great, although it very carefully segregates the action segments from the 'supernatural' part. But for me, it makes a similar misstep to the recent Fahrenheit, which I enjoyed immensely to a point. It simply, at a certain point in the game, takes leave of reality and I think the game suffers as a result. I'll keep playing though, and see if I get more enamoured, because when it hits top form, the game has been brilliant. Really. Just perhaps not the flat-out classic I was led to believe.

S

Defending My Honour

2005-10-26T03:21:00.000-07:00

I have to protest. Mr Brew has made some wild accusations since my time here but frankly, that last one takes the biscuit. Granted, my previous attempts at posting blogs were laughably poor, but in my defence, I've been away from a computer for the best part of a month and I think I'm just feeling a bit computer-ropey (is that a phrase?)

Anywho, that wasn't the accusation that I'm wishing to protest against. Oh no. It's the comments about Pro Evo that have left me a little miffed. Whilst it's true that Simon did beat me yesterday, I feel slightly miffed that he hasn't acknowledged that I've blatantly been running him far closer than before and just recently, have been banging some glorious goals past Robinson and taking some fine victories in the process.

Didn't acknowledge any of that did you Mr Brew? Sorry, boss.

Anyway, I wanted to say that top podcasts of the week in my eyes are all BBC ones. Fighting Talk and Sportsweek from Radio Five and From Our Own Correspondant from Radio Four. Points for the most annoying one definately go to Radio Five's Mark Kermode Film Reviews podcast. Just awful. Mark Kermode is possibly the most annoying human being on earth. Stay clear of his pretentious pap.

Mark

It has to start somewhere...

2005-10-25T08:41:00.000-07:00

Blogging, eh?

About time we got our hands dirty.

The result is this, Micro Mart magazine's very own blog. It'll be used over the coming months by any member of the time with a) five minutes to jot down their thoughts and b) the password. Clearly we'll be careful with both, not least point b. You have to be careful with some people, y'know.

Naturally, this initial opening post isn't interesting at all. We'll have to do something about that. But all in good time...!

S

Blogism

2005-10-25T08:12:00.000-07:00

Amusingly, John Moore - my esteemed colleague - is moaning that he can't post on this blog.
HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA