They has the power

Hello humans.

I got talking to a friend of mine recently about words, particularly gender pronouns. Now I realise this can be an area of great discussion, especially on the Internet, and we got thinking about "they"; a very interesting and multi purpose thing.

The catalyst for this conversation came from understanding the best way to refer to our transgender friend, or any trans person for that matter. Obviously you could just use the gendered pronouns for that persons birth gender (in this case she/her), but it isn't always that simple. After all a trans person may be one gender but identify as another, therefore a more fluid description (they/their) seems appropriate.

This can be especially useful when talking with or about people you don't know very well, and I suppose many of us would lean towards this use of language instinctively so as not to cause offence. It is however not just a case of offending someone, but recognising who are what they are and wish to be. In a way the prescriptive idea of gendered pronouns can rob people of their identity, labelling them as something they may not hold true for themselves.

Bear in mind this is not just a trans issue, it can be applied to all sections if society. I know this is just a small issue, but one which is quite important for countless people. "They" may just be the most important word in our language.

Thanks for reading.
See you in the future.

GameLine: The Dawn of Digital Distribution

Back in 1983 something quite amazing was brewing in the gaming world, a development which would arguably changed and formed the way games were to be played going forward.


Developed by Control Video Corporation (CVC), GameLine is one of the earliest examples of digital distribution for video games. Employing the use of a  phone line and specialized storage cartridge users could rent and download games for up to 10 plays. Pretty impressive stuff, especially considering this was the early 80's. This wasn't a simple, single game gimmick either...

Pokemon Leaf Green 0.1

Hello humans, it's been a while. I've been overwhelmed with life things recently but enough about that boring crap, here's some slightly different boring crap.

So as you probably know I'm working on a hack of Pokemon Leaf Green (and if you don't know; welcome, it must be your first time here, you poor, poor soul), the hack is shaping up pretty nicely in some respects however when it comes to creating new and unique areas I suck, big time. Now don't get me wrong I can map just fine; in fact here's part of Pallet Meadow, an area just East of Pallet Town which will include special things...

Pokemon Vs Digimon

Hello humans. Recently I've been playing a fair amount of  Pokémon  as well as working on that Pokemon hack, but now I've also started re-watching Digimon. Now I know at the time of these franchises being released there was some disagreement in the playground as to which was better. Pokémon  had Pikachu, Ash, Brock, Misty, Team Rocket, Office Jenny, Nurse Joy, Professor Oak and well  Pokémon, and Digimon had Agumon, Gomamon, Gabumon, Tai, Matt, T.K. and the rest of the kids and of course Patamon!

At the time I loved both more or less equally, though I think I may have leaned slightly more towards Digimon. Thinking back I find this weird because while I was an avid follower of the show and collected Pokémon  cards and stickers (who didn't) and was obsessed with Pokemon Red, I didn't really consume that much Digimon madness. The card game made little sense to me and I never owned a Digimon video game, so why is it that I'm so drawn to this silly little show about kids and their guardian monsters? I think that last sentence may just be the answer, while  Pokémon  was something I understood from my experience with the games, Digimon seemed more enticing and special because every child had their own unique Digimon during their adventures in the digital world.

You're not here for simple musings about the past though, so let's spice this up a bit a pit the two shows against each other in a poorly thought out "which is best" analysis!

Musical Madness

Anyone whose known me for a while will know that I tend to throw myself at a range of different projects, and like some crazed fool covered in duct tape, Velcro, and glue I wait to see which projects will stick and proceed to obsess over them.

Fun With Fraps

Hello humans, I recently took to acquiring Fraps. With this new found recording power I can now capture footage for my immense PC game library. Now obviously as soon as I got the software running I had to test it out and what better game to play than one of my favourite shooters, Star Wars Battlefront.

Getting Slightly Ahead of Myself

Hello humans, how goes the day?!
As you most likely know already due to my previous ramblings I do let's plays, of videogames, a lot of the time, because fun and reasons. Now when the weekend comes you'd probably think I'd relax and leave the games alone for a bit. Well you'd be wrong, you donkey brained arse licker; asking me to go a prolonged period of time with only human interaction to sustain me is essentially asking for the rise of our dark lord Cthulhu to occur. I in fact use the weekends for more recording so as to maintain a buffer of games to be edited, rendered, and uploaded.

Pokemon Red Part 1

Hello humans, it may have taken some time but the first part of the Pokemon Red Let's Play is live and ready for your viewing pleasure:

Pokemon Plans

Hello humans, as some of you may know I've been working on a little Pokemon hack so I decided to take this opportunity to share some of my progress on this project. The following are comparisons of a few early areas in the game; how they originally looked followed by my adjustments.

Route 1:

Along with the cosmetic changes, there are a number of 'new' Pokemon to be caught from the get go including: Zigzagoon, Spinda, and Spearow.

New Stuff to Pollute Your Eyes

Hello humans. Well the past few days have been slightly crazy, a mildly alcoholic celebratory weekend accompanied by video recording failures has resulted in a monumental slow down in my output of content, but everything is back on track now.

The final part of Sonic the Hedgehog went up today (catch the full playlist here) and will be followed by DK64 part 6, and Pikmin days 1-3; days 1 and 2 are being re-edited to improve the visual quality of the videos and introduce a more focused sense of continuity within the series.

Now with Sonic over and done with however there's a slight gap in the amount of Let's Plays I'm working on so... NEW POLL! at the top left of the blog you'll find options for games I wouldn't mind working on next, simply vote for whichever you'd most like to see next.



In other news, I have a little plan, a story really, which I'm working on and will be producing as some sort of audio play. I'm going to keep details pretty sparse at the moment just in case I give up on this idea before it actually gets anywhere but I don't think that will happen, this is something I've been wanting to do for quite a long time. Updates will follow soon.



See you in the future humans.

Pokemon and Other Things

Hello again humans, it isn't long now until I start the recording for the Pokemon Red Let's Play, with that in mind I have something pretty to show you. This sexy beast is the overlay I'll be using during the LP, not too bad right?

Control Me!

Yes that's right, I want you to control me. No not like that you depraved creature, as you may have noticed I've taken to uploading some 'Let's Plays' (DK64, Pikmin) and for my next big game I'm going to need a bit of... audience participation. Anyway I bet you're wondering what this little scheme of mine is, well it's Pokemon; Pokemon Red to be specific so, if you have any ideas or requests for the rival's name, which starter to choose, what to have in the party, nicknames even what to catch in specific areas be my guest and suggest away either here or via Twitter. I will essentially be your monkey during this and will do anything in game (provided it is possible), that being said please don't request things which will lead to the game becoming an unplayable mess, because that's just not fun. (also, do try and refrain from sharing any nicknames which may offend or insult people, this is a kids game after all).

I'll be starting our adventure this coming weekend so get those beautifully disturbing ideas to me as soon as possible, and vote on the starter via the poll at the top left of the page.

Monkey Business

Hello my beautiful humans, how are you? Good! A lot better than me I hope as I am currently dealing with the man flu, yes that's right I'm moping around the house feeling like crap sneezing and spluttering everywhere all because I got a bit cold and a nasty virus decided to pay me a visit. Bloody public transport.

On the bright side the gaming channel is go, as I write the first three videos (yes 3 whole videos) are being worked on and will be uploaded as the day goes on, but what are these amazing things of audiovisual delight? You'll just have to wait and see I'm afraid. Links will be on Twitter as soon as a new video goes live, or you know you could just subscribe...

Hello, I'm Phil and I'm here on behalf of... well me.

Hello humans and welcome to this digital spread of words which is my blog. I've put off writing this for quite a long time because I never really knew what to have as an first post, but now there are things (so many things) and I aim to share them here with you; not all at once obviously, I like you too much to bore you with all my nonsense in one go.

Perhaps Introductions are in order, my name is Phil also know as 'Crazy Pilf' or just 'Pilf'. You can find me here (Twitter), here (Youtube gaming channel), and here (Steam). The largest focus/drain/waste of my time  is gaming; be it an argumentative game of Risk with some friends, chilling out and exploring in Minecraft, or blasting through some of my old favourites like Sonic the Hedgehog on the Megadrive, gaming has been  a part of my life more or less since it began and while I don't profess to be an expert in game design or criticism I do thoroughly enjoy the escapism such wonderful things give me.