Live Show

It's been a little while since I've visited these shores with tails of music and song and videogames. But behold, I return... read now

Carisma GT14 In the Wet

One of the most noticeable things about racing out Carisma GT14 cars on a wooden floored communal hall is the lack of grip available. Many clubs have either permanent tracks of carpet or rubber matting, or lay their own each session. Our club on the other hand has yet to reach this stage and marks out a new track each time using the bare wooden floor, which although is as smooth as an ice rink is a slippery as one as well... read now

Rules and Instructions

We ran into an unexpected problem when debuting the much-anticipated Animal Crossing on the Wii: who goes first? We'd usually reach for the rules at this point, but realised videogames only really offer instructions - two very different things... read now

Train Gang

After the austerity of the ashram it's time for some luxury. Like the next chapter in some strange videogame we leave in style on a houseboat made out of bamboo. It's gorgeous; little en suite bedrooms; sofas on deck; a round dining table where we're served the most amazing keralan food by our onboard chef. There are six of us now as my sister has joined us. I can't quite describe how excited I am by this - she's travelling around the world, and the next three weeks will be all I see of her this year... read now

Carisma GT14 LED Light System

Our Carisma GT14 RC club has developed a schism. Some members are purely focused on speed and performance, whilst others are more concerned with looks and appearance. Some have even go two cars, one that they work on for looks and another for speed... read now

Carisma GT14 Mk2 Brushless Setup

It's not until you come to set up the Carisma GT14 Mk 2 that you realise just how much thinking has gone into this new version of the diminutive 1/14th Radio Controlled car... read now

Carisma GT14 Tinkering

Plenty of tea, a kitchen table and all manner of Carisma R/C cars to fix, tweak and setup. It was an evening for our Radio Controlled car club that turned out to be almost as much fun as actually racing... read now

Fierce Hero Girl

December, South East England, snow falls and with games fading from my mind I'm attempting to get to Heathrow airport, which is a mere two hours from my parent's house. All trains and buses are cancelled. The whole of Gatwick airport is closed... read now

Animal Crossing 18: Loyal Labrador

No breed is more loyal than the Labrador. A while back in Animal Crossing, Nintendo sent out four exclusive Nintendogs puppies to celebrate the fourth anniversary of their Nintendogs game... read now

Animal Crossing 17: Chasing Tarantulas

The end of August has come around all too quickly. We had a week away from home but apart from that I've been spending some time in Oakwood most days. However, I've resorted to a much more 'laissez faire' attitude to the game - not time travelling at all, not worrying about the Stalk Market too much, unless I think I'll have time in that particular week. .. read now

Carisma GT14 Servo Twitch

One of the first issues we faced with our Carisma GT14 cars was a strange steering behaviour. The car would develop a twitchy steering wobble... read now

Animal Crossing 16: It's been a LONG while

It's been a busy few months in our household. I wasn't really intending to stop playing City Folk but after a week's holiday away from home, somehow life got the better of me and I couldn't bring myself to play catchup, setting the clock back to play each day since I last played - so I just didn't play at all... read now

What Rebecca Did Next

There is good news and there is bad news. Which would you like first?.. read now

Wii At Last

This dad had learned from the mistakes of dads-of-yore and had done some planning. A component cable for HD TV connection had been purchased. New batteries were charged and ready. Everything had been plugged in and verified as working before the Christmas wrapping paper had gone on. When the wrapping was ripped off on the big day, the Wii was up and running within minutes... read now

Animal Crossing 15: Spring is in the air

Updates from Oakwood are getting fewer and further between. I'm still checking in to town every day but just doing the essential jobs in order to keep the game ticking over. There are days when I play a little bit more, for example a Wednesday when Crazy Redd's stock changes, or a Sunday when I buy turnips, but usually I'm just watering flowers and checking turnip prices, as well as throwing an axe into the fountain!.. read now

Carisma GT14 Slipper Adjustment

As we continue to race our Carisma GT14's we are learning how to maintain them as well. Twitching steering, grinding gears and loss of power are all issues we are now familiar with... read now

Tetris Shed

I just got a new bike. No, not in videogame land, in the real world where all the plants and trees live. A shiny 2011 Ridgeback Element, to be exact. I've spent a good few months looking around, and this is the bike that finally fits all my requirements... read now

Suprised by the Wii

In our journey from board game geeks to electronic entertainment, we had ruled out the DS and weren't sure what to do next. It took an unexpected collision with a Wii on holiday to provide the answer... read now

Animal Crossing 14: Easter Bunny

It's been a few weeks since the last update from Oakwood but until Easter there hadn't been much more to report. I've been slowly collecting items that were missing from my catalogue, fishing and bug catching when new fish and insects became available, and doing lots of gardening... read now

Carisma GT14 Differential Change

As well as getting better at driving our Carisma GT14 1/14th scale radio controlled cars, we are also learning a lot about how to fix them... read now