The Sane Lunatic

This review was supposed to be shared with you all before the launch of the 2021 edition of the official Formula 1 video game. Better late than never I suppose.   To the average person, it's hard to explain why we buy what is essentially the same game every year. For every new season of Formula 1, there is a new game to mirror that season's schedule, cars, driver lineup and tracks. Of course, there are a plethora of improvements and changes to the game with each edition as well. But those are the kind of details you'd only pick up if you played F1 or similar games on the regular. The last F1 video game I played was for the 2014 season. So, stepping into F1 2020 was a big shift in terms of the graphics, the game mechanics and the sheer level of involvement. Platform: PC Input: XBOX 360 Controller Driving aids: Mild traction control, ABS, braking only racing line AI Difficulty Setting: 55 to 69 I played the game almost exclusively in single-player, playing multiple seasons in...

The first time I heard of Cyberpunk 2077 was just before E3 2019. As a casual gamer with no talent for multiplayer (other than racing), I don't follow such events with any serious interest. However, I do love storyline games. So when I saw the trailers and teasers for Cyberpunk 2077 that featured a character that looked a lot like Keanu Reeves, I had to find out more.  A few weeks later, I tuned in to the livestream to witness the moment that went on to become one of the biggest, most breathtaking memes on the internet.  Of course, I was going to buy the game as a Reeves fanboy. At E3 2019, they announced a launch date sometime in April 2020. I was ready to pre-order it months in advance but thought I'd wait it out. In the meantime, I also acquired a decent gaming laptop and decided that I'd rather have the PC experience than play it on PS4. Then COViD struck and the game's launch got pushed to September. Then to November. Finally, the game was available on December 10....

When the Justice League movie came out in 2017, more people were talking about Henry Cavill's photoshopped moustache than the movie itself. That's how soulless the film was, especially at a time when the Marvel Cinematic Universe was churning out one hit after another. I saw it in theatres with low expectations and came out entertained but not invested. At the time, I wasn't fully aware of the behind-the-scenes drama in the making of the film: Zack Snyder leaving mid-production due to a disagreement with the studio and the movie being hastily finished by another director. Turns out Mr Snyder had taken his version of the Justice League movie with him when he left the project and bits from it had surfaced online. These bits were like bait to hardcore DC fans who here convinced that Zack's original work was the film they wanted, not what was released in 2017. Well, the fans' campaigning paid off and the HBO Studios decided to release the #SnyderCut. This one is four ho...

Formula 1 is often known as the pinnacle of motorsport. It combines the cutting edge of propulsion systems, aerodynamics and driving ability. Many argue that it is more about the car than the man behind the wheel but that leaves out a lot of contexts. To most, it may seem dull to watch 20 cars do 50-60 laps over 2 hours on a Sunday afternoon but as an F1 fan it's the best way to spend weekend afternoons. It's hard to explain that passion to those who know little about it. That's where Netflix's documentary series, 'Formula 1: Drive To Survive', comes in and they just dropped Season 3. I've watched previous seasons but this is the first time I'm doing a review for it. Each season of the show does a dramatic recount of what happened in the F1 season the year before. What makes the show - also called DTS - entertaining to F1 viewers who already know exactly what happened at the races is the behind the scenes stuff we don't normally get to see but Netfli...

I was supposed to do some rants and reviews in January and the first post for 2021 is coming in the second half of March. Sorry about that. It's a mix of being busy and being lazy. I haven't watched many/any movies in 2021 so far and I've got plenty to rant about. But most rants are about my issues with the regime and this one is particularly vindictive. You never know what might earn you a spot on a watchlist. Still, I thought I'd do a quick rewind of how 2021 has been so far. While I avoid going through most day-to-day media reports, these headline events did happen to catch my attention: U.S. Capitol Riots:- Trump lost his 2020 re-election but in typical orange dickhead fashion, he refuted the results and claimed that it was "stolen" from him. In a brilliant move, he did the ultimate notice-period-screwjob in the first week of January. He held a rally in Washington D.C. and incited his hardcore supporters to storm the U.S. Capitol - the meeting place of th...

2020 has been a shit year for more reasons than I'd care to list. There'll be a rant and some reviews from the Sane Loon in January but as a final post of this year I just wanted to say this: Fuck 2020.  Hope everyone has stayed safe, kept good health and let's hope that 2021 proves to be less shite for most of you. Thanks for the support as always!

My first phone was a Nokia 1100. Everyone at home had Nokia phones. As time went on and smartphones became the new normal for everyone who could afford one, I stuck with the Nokia brand. Around the same time, people I knew had or were getting Samsung smartphones. One specific range comes to mind as the one with a slide-out QWERTY keyboard - the Corby. As cool as I thought the phones were, I just hated the comical font all Samsung phones had. Then I noticed that most guys who had Samsung phones were a certain TYPE. I prided myself on sticking with other brands like Sony, Blackberry and in 2019 I upgraded to a OnePlus device. FYI, I rarely buy expensive smartphones, just mid-range ones and that segment has gotten stupidly crowded in the last few years with the influx of  brands like Mi, Huawei, Poco and so on. I don't like any of them or their products or most people who buy those products. Its not a rational dislike but it is a strong one. My boycott of Samsung phones continued as w...