2005 - A year in review

I found this on Tom's site which he found somewhere else - and thought I'd give it a go for myself: A nice way to wrap up what I've done this year.

1.What did you do in 2005 that you’d never done before?
Visit Japan and after nearly two years of trying, eventually become a home owner.

2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
I don't make them because I know I'll intentionally break them.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
Nope, not within arms reach anyway!

4. Did anyone close to you die?
Nope, not within arms reach anyway!

5. What countries did you visit?
Austria, Holland, Hungary, Italy & Japan. All thanks to the Coaster Club.
2006 is probably going to be Norway, Germany, Ireland, France and all over the Eastern half of the US.

6. What would you like to have in 2006 that you lacked in 2005?
Someone to occupy the other half of the double bed. I could claim a 50% refund with the amount of time it has been unoccupied.

7. What date(s) from 2005 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
16th December. I tried something that I had wanted to do for ages but was scared to do. Won't go into details because I will be judged on having done it, but I'm definitely glad I did.
7th July because some twats blew up our public transport and I had a nightmare getting home that day.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Getting to Japan, a place I'd been wanting to visit for years...

9. What was your biggest failure?
Inadvertantly ensuring there were NO turkeys to order on our website at Christmas. Quite embarressing really.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
The annual ear infection and cold that always seems to hit in December.

11. What was the best thing you bought?
Series 1 thru 4 of the Macgyver TV show (and you thought it would be the home? No way!)

12. Whose behaviour merited celebration?
Lenny Henry for retiring from being funny, which I thought he did years ago. Now if his missus would follow suit, that would be great!

13. Whose behaviour made you appalled and depressed?
I don't get depressed. As for appalled? Can anyone remember the Kinga bottle incident on Big Brother? Crude, just crude.

14. Where did most of your money go?
On me! Yeah baby. Hurrah for self gratification and opulence.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
The trip to Japan.

16. What song will always remind you of 2005?
Blur's "Song 2" for two reasons. One it was the song I was singing at the Karaoke on the Japanese trip when I was sent flying and almost knocked out. Also it was played by every act at the Fatboy Slim night which has seen my returning to clubbing.

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
happier or sadder? A little happier thankyou very much.
thinner or fatter? A little lighter, although it's not noticeable.
richer or poorer? A teeny bit richer

18. What do you wish you’d done more of?
Gone out clubbing.

19. What do you wish you’d done less of?
Stayed in, especially on weekends.

20. How will you be spending Christmas?
Family and work.

21. Who deleted question 21?
It was the smurfs but I hunted them down and rescued it.

22. Did you fall in love in 2004?
Huh? What is that and why ask about 2 years ago?

23. How many one-night stands?
Shhhhhhh!!!!!!

24. What was your favourite TV program?
Lost and now I'm resorting to downloading episodes of the second series. Now when are we going to see a new episode? It's been ages!

25. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?
Hate is such a terrible emotion to have. I wouldn't waste the energy on doing that.

26. What was the best book you read?
"Is It Just Me Or Is Everything Shit" by Alan MacArthur & Steve Lowe

27. What was your greatest musical discovery?
Interpol or Dogzilla

28. What did you want and get?
A home that is my own. Now if I could just pick up a brush and decorate it then it would truly be mine.

29. What did you want and not get?
I was always told as a kid that "he who wants never gets". I'm grateful for what I do have and am not regretting anything I haven't had.

30. What was your favorite film of this year?
Saw 2 or Crash.

31. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
I hit 33 and I went out with friends and got drunk.

32.What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
Haven't we already had this? A woman.

33. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2005?
Jeans and T, oh and I did have the beard this year. I think it'll make a comeback in 2006. My plans to attempt a mullet in time for the American Trip has been ruined by my brother's wedding the week before I leave. He wouldn't forgive me if I appeared in the wedding pictures with it.

34. What kept you sane?
The voices...Ha Ha Ha Ha!

35. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
Hmmmm (stroking chin), probably Jolie in Mr & Mrs Smith (not the bondage gear though, she looked ridiculous in that outfit).

36. What political issue stirred you the most?
I don't waste my effort on any of that, Blunkett's behaviour made me laugh. The "I bet he never saw that coming" joke was cracked over and over again.

37. Who did you miss?
Everyone, but that's down to having a shaky arm. When I get round to buying a tripod I'll be able to shoot everyone I aim at. (Do I mean camera or sniper rifle, you decide)

38. Who was the best new person you met?
By "new person" do you mean a baby? Then no-one. I loved the entire population of Japan, they are so friendly and love foreigners trying to speak the language. I almost had a feeling of celebrity with the looks and whispers I was getting just walking around.

39. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2005.
If you are are taken hostage whilst out collecting a chinese meal you can squirt the sachets of soy sauce into your assailants' eyes to blind them and make your escape. Believe me, watching Macgyver has trained me for a lot of issues that may come my way.

40. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.
Woooooooooohoooooooooooooooooo (from "Song 2")

Hyde Park Fair 2005

Those that know me know that I like my coasters and spin rides and here in the UK all the parks close for the Winter so there's a lull in the riding. However, one of the travelling fair owners arranged with Westminster council to set up a fair in Hyde Park for a couple of week over the Christmas period. Wooohooo!!! I can get my adrenaline rush over the otherwise Christmas period. So I escaped work early and headed over to see what ride were there.


The fair was set up along the northern edge of the park and at night it was quite odd seeing a perfectly empty and quiet park to one side and loud music and bright lights on the other.


At one end of the strip was a large spinning mouse coaster, quite short in length and not all that spinny. It was also obvious that there weren't that many people around perhaps because it was the coldest day of the year and temperatures were expecting to hit -10. No problem with queues here!


At the other end of the strip was a booster ride which is basically a big wheel reduced to a single spoke with 4 seats at each end that tip as the ride spins round. I've ridden several of these before and at £5 a go, I gave it a miss even though it would have offered some unique views of London from the top. When I finally get around to riding the London Eye, I'll have all my views of London I'll ever need.

Between these were a number of stalls, game tents and spin rides.


This was the travelling top spin, which had the best light show of all the rides, mostly due to that big multibeam monster to the left that could be seen a fair distance away and bounced off the tree next to the ride nicely. Being smaller than most I'd ridden it was a little more intense and also the fact that with it being a travelling ride the feeling it might fall apart at any second only added to the experience. For those that don't know how these things work the outer arms rotate in a circle and the bench on which people are sit rotates too or can be locked in position. Was really disorientating when I first rode this kind of ride but I'm used to them now.


Monster was one of the kiddy coasters, kinda crap to be honest - YES I RODE IT!!


Superbowl is like a waltzer only it lifts up once you're disorientated from the cars spinning. It looks a lot scarier than it is and you don't really notice that you've lifted up because you're spinning so much.


This is the "Disney Train". Perhaps the most minimal themed Disney rides I've ever come across, and a total abuse of the brand. Certainly an entertaining attraction if only to laugh at.


Dragon is the other kiddy coaster and is no different from any other kiddy coaster. Yep, I rode this one too. 3 coasters in London - Fairground owners, you spoil us (last sentence best said in a dubbed Ferrero Rocher advert accent).


Conventional waltzers are usually the best rides at fairgrounds because the operators just love to ensure your car is spinning enough to make you violently ill. I think they left me alone as I found it not that bad to be honest.


Chaos is a baby afterburner that because of it smaller than usual size offers a more intense experience, just like the Top Spin. This wasn't bad at all but I still prefer Vortex at Thorpe Park; with these rides I definitely think bigger is better. I took the opportunity to fiddle with the camera settings to get the blur as it spun, which explains why it's also a little orange.


The obligatory fun house. Having been on a funhouse crawl at Prater earlier in the year (I think we did around 6 in a row) I'd definitely had more than my fill of these attractions this year, so I gave it a miss.


Here's the waveswinger doing an impression of those stupid little toys that the Gadget Shop used to sell that allowed you to make light patterns by spinning beams at speed.


Now this thing was the ride of the night. It's called a "move it" and it spins you round in pretty much every direction possible.


It definitely feels odd being spun vertically.



It feels even more odd being rotated whilst upside down.


The best ride by far!!

All in all a great hour spent and with my impending trip to Dublin, the closed-season is definitely looking up (and down and forwards and backwards and all directions in between). It would be interesting to know if the fair was a success. The time of year and temperature may have put people off visiting. The ride ops were doing their best to motivate people to ride, which would indicate they weren't getting the money they expected. Perhaps having been denied a decent fairground for so long, London needs to get used to it. Those that had dared the cold to attend were having a good time.

It's events like this where you realise London really needs a city centre park like Tivoli in Copenhagen. It brings people together, something that this place isn't associated with to be honest.

Goodbye 2005

I'm now off to the parents for the holidays so I'm unlikely to be posting anything for the duration. I'm also not going to be accessing my hotmail either.

See you all next year!

Has Santa Fallen on Hard Times?

Last day of work and we decided to visit Borough Market, which is famous for it's very natural and organic wares. Some of the workmates had gone for some highly recommended stilton cheese so we agreed to stay for drinks.

Whilst standing outside The Market Porter pub, the rubbish men (men that collect the rubbish, not men who are just crap) came past in Santa outfits.

I ended buying some wild boar sausages and a christmas pudding, and whilst the former was really nice, the same couldn't be said of the pudding which was disappointed and not worth the money I paid.

Ah well!

World's Smallest DJ

Pretty fly for a small guy...
Lejo dj

Christmas Lights in London

Whilst doing a last bit of Christmas Shopping I thought I'd take in the London lights. The two main shopping streets in the capital are Oxford Street and Regent Street and each year they try to outdo each other with their lights. Regent Street always gets the better media coverage with a minor celebrity switching them on. I think this year it was the amazingly talented Lee Ryan from boyband Blue. Oxford Street on the other hand tends to be more low-key preferring to avoid the razzmatazz. However this street does have the large department stores who put on some good displays themselves.



Here we have Oxford Street which had simple light blue chandelier type patterns at regular intervals down its length. John Lewis had some nice christmas tree patterns but I think Debenhams pipped them with their all red display further down the road.



Regent Street however had much more in-your-face displays themed around the Ice Age 2 movie which I think detracts from the Christmas theme. Who, when they think of Christmas, come up with mammoths and stoats (or whatever the main character is supposed to be). Because of the obvious over commercialism I didn't like this display all that much. Last year they had an Incredibles themed display which is even worse, that wasn't even Wintry.



I thought I'd take a wander around London to see what else I could find. Just off, and running parallel to Regent is Carnaby Street, the birthplace of punk but perhaps now more well known for the big dance opening sequence to the first Austin Powers movie. These were much better, very straight forward un-sponsored and a full rainbow of colour. Some of what you see are the lights but some of the vertical beams are vertical mirrors that are rotated by the wind and reflect the lights around them. Very simple but effective.



5 minutes from Carnaby Street and at the end of Regent Street is Picadilly Circus (see London actually isn't that big a place and you don't need to rely on the underground to get about). This place is famous around the world for being the neon hotspot in London and although they didn't have any Christmas theming they still had put on a good show. I don't remember the main screen being so detailed, perhaps it has had an overhaul.



Finally I hit Leicester Square, which I knew did have some fairground rides in place. Simply lit up and with the old carousel and the King Kong theming at the Odeon that had it looking like the theatre that Kong escapes from in the film, the square sort of took on a retro look, which definitely had more of a Christmas feel to it than any of the other areas. It would have looked great if there had been snow, which never seems to happen anymore in the capital. Too much heat being generated I guess.

Not a bad showing overall, I guess. At least they made the effort; I didn't even put up a tree this year let alone any lights.

JCB Song

Today, something odd happened to the UK pop chart. A song made it to number 1 without the backing of any major record company. I've not paid any attention to the chart for months as it's been full of commercial crap. This song about a young kid being driven about in his dad's digger is a family production that has become successful through word of mouth. Whilst the song is just OK, I really like the animation in the video that can be seen here featuring cameos from Optimus Prime and the A-Team van. The song does pick up towards the end so don't leave it early!

Next week is the Christmas number 1. I doubt this song will still be in the top spot then, as we have the likes of the X-Factor winner and a bunch of choirboys being released tomorrow which is likely to knock them off.

Oh, and for some reason the movie won't play on firefox, open it in IE and it should be fine.

King Kong

A personal commentary by Peter Jackson on the social unliking of black males dating white women, if you're one of those people who reads too much into today's cinema that is. For starters we don't even know for certain if King Kong is male. He could be a she and the film could be a personal commentary by Peter Jackson on the social unliking of lesbianism.

Actually the film is a very good remake of what was a very bad 30s movie, but then what film made in that decade was? The film comes in at a bum-numbing 3 hours and for the first hour you'll be reciting that well known phrase from Jerry Maguire with the letter K added.

"Show me the mon(k)ey"

The story is of a failed director, played straight for once by Jack Black, who heads off to Skull Island (an island not on any map except his) with a poor actress played rather well by Naomi Watts and a screenwriter in a cage played by Adrien "the nose" Brody with the aim of making a film there. On the island they come across a bunch of savages, including a nice cameo of Walt from "Lost", who seem to do nothing but wait for people to arrive so they can sacrifice them to King Kong.

Considering this island was supposed to be unknown they clearly can't have much opportunity to do so. With all the spare time they had they were able to make lots of walls and bridges out of vines and wood. Clearly a lack of sacrifical lambs had meant their carpentry skills had become quite superb.

When Naomi turns up, she is taken captive and when offered to the monkey, King Kong falls in love with her juggling skills (so there is a reason for it after all) and rather than eat her, chooses instead to show her the sunset whilst avoiding lots of bugs, bats and a trifecture of T-Rexs.

The rest of the crew, led by Adrien "can smell her scent from 50 miles with that nose" Brody eventually rescue her and manage to capture the Gorilla to take back to New York as a spectacle, when the movie fails to materialise.

We then have the classic ending when the Gorilla escapes from the show and makes his way to the top of the Empire State Building to fight those aeroplanes where pilots can fire their machine guns without hitting the propellor at the front of the plane. Will Jackson stay true to the original or will some stupid executive insist on an alternative ending where everyone lives happily ever after? You'll have to wait and see.

Naomi's role is limited to running and screaming, and having run away screaming in both Ring and Ring 2, it wasn't much of a career step to do it here. This time however she's running from a CGI monkey, not a girl crawling through her TV set. I still think her role in Mulholland Drive is her best yet. With big blockbusters where there are tons and tons of CGI, great set designs and all the stops pulled out, you can get away with not having the best acting. Adrien is even worse, like Owen Wilson, you'll be distracted by his conk, well I was. Jack Black is perhaps the best of the actors, which is surprising given his background in comedy roles.

But of course the star of the show is Serkis as the Gorilla, it's just a shame it takes so long for him to appear. The mannerisms are perfect and the CGI so good that you really do believe that he's real. Lord of the Rings did suffer with some obvious blue screening, but the budget has clearly been spent hiding that this time round. The effects are really sharp. You're more sympathetic to Kong than anyone else. As with the Gollum role in Rings, Andy Serkis should get an Oscar nomination but it's not going to happen as he's not "on the screen" which is a shame.

The action sequences are great with a dinosaur chase that puts the same in Jurassic Park into a cocked hat. The fight between Kong and the T-Rexs is also great with a jaw breaking scene that almost rivals that in American History X. If you're scared of bugs then you will be cringing in this film as they feature abundantly and their big mothers too. Rentokill won't be able to shift this lot, that's for sure.

Is it a kid's movie? No! But the movie company has clearly managed to make the BBFC think so. Some families did leave the showing I was at, particularly around the bug scenes, but it is definitely worth seeing if you don't have kids.

I'll finish my review with a joke that came to me during watching the film.

Q: How do you shift a 25ft, unconscious and oversized gorilla that weighs several tonnes from a coastal inlet to a ship moored offshore using 8 men and a small rowing boat?
A: You'll have to ask Peter Jackson as he doesn't show us.

Oh, and check the cages in the ship. Looks like they're carrying some of those deadly Sumatran Rat Monkeys that Jackson featured in his Brain Dead movie :D

Fatboy Slim @ Brixton Academy

Have had a very lazy day today recovering from a superb evening at the Brixton Academy where Fatboy Slim was bringing his Palookavision tour. This had been my first clubbing event for a fair few years and I wasn't sure if I'd last the night, especially given the fact I'd had the work do the night before and no chance to recuperate having to work during the day. Fatboy was headlining for 2 and a half hours but we had another 2 warm acts to go; DJ Yoda and The Scratch Perverts.



DJ Yoda started up first playing from 9-11. A DJ I've been wanting to see for a long time, I'm a big fan of his cut and paste albums. He has won the DMC mixing championships in the past and is now a judge so he definitely has the skills behind the decks. Labelled by DJ Magazine as "one of the DJs you must see before you die" I was finally able to put a tick in that box. It was a real shame that he was the first act up as we got into a fairly empty Brixton Academy and he was playing to very few people. In his defence by the end of the set he had got the crowd going, which was his job.

He mixes hip hop with old 80s tracks so you'll find dancing to NOP mixed with Van Halen or AHA with Beastie Boys. All good party tunes. Being Christmas he also dropped some Christmas stuff into his set including a very funny Run DMC "Rock the Christmas Bells" bootleg I've heard before.

Technology has clearly made life easy for the DJ as Yoda had all his music on an Apple Laptop. Somehow he had wired the decks to it so he could still use his scratch skills to manipulate the mp3s. Very strange, and didn't make much viewing, but then we were there to dance not trainspot! Big tune was probably my Karaoke classic "Song 2" by Blur.



Scratch Perverts were up next. Like Yoda, these guys have won DMC battles in the past both as individuals and as a team. They've now retired from the battling to focus on their live act. As with Yoda, there's not much to look at, as happens with the warm up acts. But what these guys lacked visually they made up with sonically with some superb tracks mixed like never before.

As well as playing great tracks they also make their own compositions from scratching records on different decks, or from looping feedback through the mixer. Plus 1 is an absolutely demon scratcher and his hand was a blur as he ran his crabs over the fader (those who know anything about scratching will know what I'm on about!)

I've seen these guys a few times before and have been trying to convert my friends to them, by the time the set was over my job had been done, even though they didn't have their full set up (I've seen them mixing on 6 decks and 6 CDJs, last night they just had 4 decks). Everyone was quite mental to these guys as they mixed hip hop, old school, breaks and drum and bass into 90 minutes of madness. Unlike Yoda they were playing vinyl, I guess they had to. I doubt there is any software that can emulate their DJ skills. Best track was probably a 20 minute Prodigy mash up.

And then finally we had the main act, Fatboy Slim, who I last saw years ago in a DJ soundclash with Armand Van Helden at the same venue. The decks were removed from the stage and a back curtain dropped to reveal a huge video screen, with Fatboy Slim behind some decks in its centre. This was his Palookavision screen which has followed him on tour which acts as the main visuals in the show. After a short intro the screen flashed up the warning message "Time to put your glasses on" which we had been handed on the way in. These looked like 3D glasses but were actually some sort of holographic lense that split spotlights into 2 smiley faces. I couldn't get a picture of the effect but found this pic that shows it.



This really made the venue look really strange as every available light was suddenly transformed into smiling faces adding to the positive feeling around the place.

The set was classic Fatboy Slim, lots of bouncy housey mixes and exclusive bootlegs and an initial overuse of the "Fatboy Slim is fuckin in heaven" sample, which does grate after hearing it the 20th time. But his set was superb and everyone was really into it. The visual show was stunning and a lot of fun to watch, as were the dancing girls that came out every now and then to provide some entertainment on the stage. There were also inflatable smileys bouncing around the crowd and glitter cannons towards the end. The visual display turned the screen into a pacman video game, a series of explosions, and a flight around the earth, amongst others. He also had a camera pointing at the decks that could put him on screen, he would write messages on the record sleeves like "are we having fun yet" and hold it up to the camera for us all to see. It was also cool to put the crowd up on the screen which happened a few times too. Quite appropriately given it was the opening weekend of King Kong we also had a segment featuring a man in a gorilla suit dancing.








The best track was played towards the end and mixed the kids singing sample from Gorillaz "Clint Eastwood" with his "Praise You" track. (Did you like the tenuous Gorilla link there?)

At 3am his act came to a close and it was time to go home. Some of my mates were going off to a house for more partying but I'd had such a good night I was happy to end it there. I'm also pleased with myself for being able to keep dancing all night. I know I had the stamina level in me somewhere. Maybe it was the redbull or something else that helped ;) My clubbing gene has been reignited. I can definitely see myself heading off to more events from now on. We've already talked about seeing the Perverts again as they have a residency at a club 10 minutes from work.

Our Work Christmas Party

The work night was a good laugh. We got plenty of feedback on our outfits (although one guy did ask why we had come as sperm) and fortunately the venue had no problem with 9 people entering their place with machine guns, although they did have a problem with one of us running around wearing all the balloons they'd "acquired" from the dinner tables.

Unfortunately the live band didn't have the skills to play Intergalactic, preferring to hide behind trumpets and microphones than bust some verbal skills on da mic! However this did not stop us from having backspin battles and trying to do the running man in our wellington boots.

Some of our group didn't have the courage to stay in their outfits for too long changing into their black tie, others left to go to other events, still in their costumes. Myself and few others decided to stick it out and wear the outfits all night.

I think it's fair to say we had a good time!

Can you guess what this is?

I asked my best mate what she wanted for Christmas and it had to be something she'd use. Here's a picture of it wrapped up. Can you figure it out? It's not a spade.
I didn't know which was worse, having to carry the present unwrapped through Sutton High Street on a Friday night or having to carry it wrapped to the party. The police thought it suspicious as they made sure to slow down as they drove past. I'm glad she didn't ask for a sawn off. Oh, and if you haven't figure it out, it's actually a garden fork. You didn't expect me to wrap the prongs individually did you? Certainly one of the most unusual things I've had to wrap but I know the present will be appreciated and used, which is always what I'm most uncertain of when choosing gifts. It's much easier to just ask even if the surprise is taken away.

The Names Bond, Malcolm Henchman Bond

Tomorrow sees our big Christmas work party and our company has booked a huge stately home in Kensington for a "James Bond" themed evening.

Now when you think of James Bond what do you think of? Do you think of smartly dressed people in their black tie outfits sipping Martinis at the bar before gambling at the Roulette wheel. Something like this in fact.



Well that's clearly what the people who have organised the event have thought of. However being the maverick team that we are we've decided to represent the lowly henchmen who are always overlooked in these films. Those guys in the all white workers' overalls, tinted safety goggles, bright construction helmets and white wellington boots. Yep, that's who we're going as. So that's our outfits and armed with toy machine guns we're going to either liven this party up and be talked about the next day or be swiftly turned away from the premises. If it's the latter we have a contingency plan, we'll be wearing black tie under it for a quick change.

We've also noticed that the outfits aren't too disimilar to those worn by the Beastie Boys in their "Intergalactic" video, so I may be taking my iPod and portable speakers for some impromptu Beasties dancing.

Space Cadets - Is the joke on us?

We have a reality show on at the moment in the UK called Space Cadets where a group of people think they're off in Russia training to be the first civilians in space. In fact they're in a base in Suffolk in a building that has been made to look Russian. Actors are playing all the parts of the trainers and a couple of actors are within the group to remove any doubts of the genuine contestants becoming suspicious they're being set up. Apparently this joke is the reason for watching the show.

There is a lot of talk of this show being cruel, exploitative and maybe the final nail in reality TV shows, after all who is going to believe any shows after this one?

Well it turns out the joke may be on us, one of the "contestants" is also an actor having appeared in a commercial which is still being shown on the telly. The pictures above show Ryan in his cadet outfit and helping Gordon Ramsey with his damaged spleen. The full advert can be seen here

The final episode is tomorrow night when the big joke will be revealed. We'll see whether my suspicion is right or not then.

MC Jelly Donut

I like MC battles but I have no idea what to make of this guy. A candidate for any 8 Mile sequel perhaps?

Make your own Opie Pic

Opie what?

If the pic hasn't given it away Julian Opie is the artist responsible for the superb Blur portraits seen above. This website explains how to do your own. I'm definitely going to give this a go.

How to do cool pop art portraits - no skill required

[edit]Here's my first attempt. My brother's school picture when he was a mere young thing. Not too bad for half hours work using a graphics tool for the first time. I'll do myself later haha! It doesn't look too bad if I say so myself. I could have done more work on the hair, but I'll do that next time.

Remember Rick Dangerous?

Before Lara Croft, if you wanted a tomb raiding you'd go to Rick Dangerous. I've found a version that runs in flash and I've been playing this quite a lot. If you like platformers give it a go.

Rick Dangerous Flash

Create your own South Park Image

Came across this nice little flash app that allows you to create your South Park avatar. Plenty of options to play with.

As James has kindfully pointed out I forgot the link, try here