It was the last week the company I am freelancing for at the moment stayed at it’s address near Chancery Lane. We have moved to Paddington. And though the office now is bigger, brighter and newer, I miss the variety of places we could get food our lunch from. I suspected that would be the case, so I thought we should spent the last week going to our favorite places, the opportunity that won’t present itself in the nearest future.

So we did, and here are three places I would highly recommend to try if you in that part of London and feeling peckish. All of them can be found at Leather Lane market (among it’s many other food options, by the way).

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If you are like me, and if it’s such an involving game as Bioshock, you would want to know about everything. You wouldn’t want to miss a single diary, but rather to uncover all the stories and visit every far or hidden corner of the city. Well, this is me, anyway. In this case you need walk through guide. And nothing beats Bioshock 2 official strategy guide.

It’s a special edition (I looooove special editions :) and it’s a hardcover. Yes, not a flimsy magazine-style guide, but rather a solid book, which surely can proudly stand on the book shelf next to K.Marks’ ‘Das Kapital’ (or whatever you have there). The guide itself is well illustrated and very comprehensive (what you could expect from it), but it’s the quality of the book I am particularly impressed with. But even more, the guide comes with an extra bonus bundled - a set of two beautiful lithographs of Bioshock 2 art (you might have seen them on the net).

Once again, amazing job, 2K team and BradyGames!

Last Friday we called it a day earlier and went to see Decode, ‘Digital Design Sensations’ at V&A. It was a fine day outside and the sun, so missed during winter greyness, was still shining. A perfect week ending.

The exhibition wasn’t massive, but we still managed to spend there good hour and a half. I think we were caught in interactions :) Interactivity was one the major theme of the exhibition and it was a good fun and interesting what people can come up with. So yes, I would definitely recommend visiting it while it’s open.

Will took some pictures there, and few of my pictures from the V&A are also below:

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Bioshock 2 is officially released tomorrow. But we have something special tonight - my preordered copy has arrived. How exciting!

Normally I have no problem to wait for a couple of months for a game’s price to drop dramatically and then buy it (even a second hand one - as good as a real deal), but not this time. This time it’s personal :) And I wouldn’t be satisfied with a regular edition, oh no, it is to be an amazing Special Edition.

Guys at 2K definitely know how to do their job, and I have one word for it - quality. Attention to details is actually another word (actually, three words) and I absolutely love it. Such things really enrich your experience and make fiction alive.

The case (which itself is extremely well done) came filled with all kind of goodies:

• - the game (obviously)
• - a hardback art-book - that’s precious
• - audio CD with orchestral score - I still love the the score from the first installment
• - a real 12” vinyl (released at Rapture records) with the score from the original game
• - three retro posters with secret messages (as it was reported recently)

Seriously, it is a collector’s heaven and it’s worth every (extra) penny. One of those cases when you are really happy you have maxed out. All I need now is to find a gramophone:)

Ok, enough, time to re-immerge and pay Rapture a second visit.

Just a few days left and excitement is building up. And this is exactly what it is - a teaser. For the last couple of weeks I’ve been seeing this ad everywhere on the underground. I wonder what people are thinking of it. A man (?) in a heavy diving suit with an enormous drill with a small yellow-eyed girl on his shoulder… That’s messed up :)

Seeing those huge banners makes me smile, as if I got some secret knowledge, as if I belong. It also makes me feel at home on the tube, somehow :) At home, in Rapture.

This is crazy. Oleg, you are crazy.

A few years ago my flatmate introduced me to the video gaming. Since then my life has never been the same.

The advantage of starting so late is that I bypassed old games with poor graphics and storyline. Things evolve (having said that, still lots of games released nowadays are with mediocre visuals and/or a typical story to back it up. I ‘was bred’ on great examples like Halo 3 and Gears of War, so my standards were set quite high from the start.

Among my first games was also glorious Bioshock, the game that quickly became my absolute favorite, my true and only love.

So what makes it so special and dear to me?

The utopian city built on the bottom of the ocean? Check. ‘I chose the impossible, I chose Rapture.’

The breathtaking Art Deco architecture and beautiful, though decadent, highly detailed settings? Check. I love travelling back in time. Even its soundtracks deserve to exist on it’s own.

An engaging story and hours to spend exploring and unveiling it? Check. Its replay value makes me come back to it over and over again.

The drama of human intentions, passions and aspirations gone wrong? Check. Bioshock provoked a lot o thinking and encouraged me to learn more about that time and read books, that served as an inspiration for the game (like ‘1984′ or ‘Brave New World’).

So it’s not just a dumb time waster, but games like Bioshock is like a movie, with a difference that it lasts good 15-20 hours and you are in the middle of the action.

When we moved out (what a joy to have a place to you only), buying xbox 360 was at the top of my list. And Bioshock was the first game to buy for my collection. But I went even further, having ordered Collector’s Edition. No regrets, it was a great set with some bonus material and a figurine of Big Daddy, an iconic figure of Rapture. That was very well-made and was totally worth it.

After more than 2 years we are about to witness the release of the Bioshock 2, the sequel set 10 years after the event of the first game. I can barely wait, so exited :) I actually preordered it. And what I did meanwhile was to order another piece of memorabilia. It’s an Eve syringe replica. I came across it on play.com and did not think long.

The syringe has arrived and is really cool. Though it might look creepy to someone, who does not know the game and the story behind it (yes, it’s pretty much an accessories of a junkie), my heart fills with warmth every time I see it. Makes me want to go underwater again and again.

A couple of weeks ago I was approached by lovely Natalie I used to work with back in the days at pod1 to make a contribution to her and Sara’s fashion blog emergingfervour.com. The girls were always crazy about fashion and now they are getting to do what they love doing. Good for them!

It was a pleasant compliment and sure, I agreed to do ‘the shoot’ for the section they call ‘What’s in your wardrobe’.

So the other (late) night it was me, tripod and a pile of clothes. I wasn’t into shopping lately, so was a bit worried about what I could pull out, but I guess the result is not too bad.

Below are couple of images from emergingfervour.com, and if that got you interested head there to read the rest of the post and see few other clothes ensembles I put together.

www.golden.lv

It was one of my first clients when I started freelancing about 7 years ago. No surprise by now the website needed a redesign (yes, it was built with tables), what I was asked to do few months ago.
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