Thursday 31 December 2015

The Crazy Train! Episode 36 - "God, This Is Thick!"

On Episode 36 of The Crazy Train:

  • Rob pitches Crazy Train merchandise
  • Rob talks about a trip to IKEA
  • We talk about Sweden
  • We talk about Japan
  • We talk a bit about moving
  • We talk about the Trash Wizard haunting a block of apartments
  • Rob talks about a conversation he overheard in a lift
  • We talk a bit about facial hair
  • Where are Spike and Crouch?
  • We talk about Ozzy Osbourne (dangerously close)
  • Rob has to do a proper legal disclaimer
  • We talk about Blake possibly being the most interesting member of the cast, but that we never let him talk. As if to prove a point...
  • Brad went to Hawaii
  • We talk about history, geography and childhood
  • We talk a bit about our favourite teachers
  • We talk a bit about school
  • From the mailbag: If you could pinpoint a skill or a trait that you possess, which one do you think is the most useful or the one you enjoy having the most?
  • From the mailbag: What's one skill you don't have that you wish you did?

Starring: Rob Wade, Blake Harmer, Brad Harmer-Barnes.

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Wednesday 30 December 2015

Brad Harmer-Barnes’ Best Of 2015

It’s the end of the year, so here is the obligatory end of the year post.

Favourite Movie - Mad Max: Fury Road
(George Miller, Australia/US, 2015)

I don’t know what expectations I had going into this one, but I do know that they were all far exceeded by this adrenaline-fueled, chaotic-neutral, visually stunning piece of Ozploitation-throwback cinema. Tom Hardy took over from Mel Gibson brilliantly, and it’s just...it feels like it actualises Mad Max. It’s the movie that the previous instalments were all trying to be, and this is how they finally matured.

Also-Rans/Honourable Mentions: Star Wars – Episode VII: The Force Awakens (J.J. Abrams, US, 2015), What We Do In The Shadows (Jemaine Clement/Taika Waititi, New Zealand/US, 2014)

Favourite TV Series - Archer
(FX Productions)

Still Martini dry, still South Park surreal and still full of genuine belly-laugh moments, for me Archer is the best TV show out there, and has been for years. The characters have managed to develop and stay fresh, while at the same time avoiding shark-jumping territory.

Also-Rans/Honourable Mentions: Star Wars: Rebels (Disney XD), BoJack Horseman (Tornante Company)

Favourite Tabletop Game - Legendary Encounters: Predator
(Upper Deck Entertainment)

The best game released this year for anyone who is a fan of the Predator movies, which should be everyone. Manages to capture the theme and feel of the movies, while also giving you enough scope to feel like you’re telling your own story, it’s a package of fan-service. There’s hours of play included in here, too, and that’s without mixing in the cards from the Alien sister game.

Also-Rans/Honourable Mentions: Star Wars: Armada (Fantasy Flight Games), The Great War (PSC Games)

Favourite Video Game - Star Wars: Battlefront
(DICE/Electronic Arts)

Star Wars: Battlefront feels like playing with action figures made you feel when you were a kid. It feels like playing Star Wars themed paintball. It’s the pure Star Wars joy we’ve been looking for in a video game since…shit, probably since Rogue Squadron or Jedi Knight.

Also-Rans/Honourable Mentions: Star Wars: Uprising (Disney Interactive Studios), Alien: Isolation (Creative Assembly/SEGA)

Favourite Book - I, Partridge: We Need to Talk About Alan (Alan Partridge, Harper)

If you’re a fan of Alan Partridge, then this in-character autobiography is a must-buy, and I have to especially recommend the audiobook, narrated by Steve Coogan in character throughout. Full of the cringiness and full-on laughs you’ve come to expect.

Also-Rans/Honourable Mentions: Star Wars: Lost Stars (Claudia Grey, Disney/Lucasfilm Press), I Am Death (Chris Carter, Simon & Schuster)

Favourite Comic - Darth Vader
(Marvel)

Kieron Gillen has nailed the canon of Star Wars like no other writer with this series that follows the galaxy’s most famous Lord of the Sith on his quest to discover the identity of the pilot who blew up the Death Star. The artwork is similarly awesome, and I can’t wait to see where this goes next.

Also-Rans/Honourable Mentions: Moon Knight (Marvel), The Superior Foes of Spider-Man (Marvel)


Tuesday 29 December 2015

Rob Wade's Best of 2015

So as the year draws to a close, it falls to me to assemble a list of my personal favourite things, as if I'm best placed to do that or some shit. So, then, here are my favourite things I've experienced this year. I've kept the categories exceedingly basic this year, and as with previous Favourites lists, this reflects stuff that I've experienced for the first time this year, so in theory could include things that were not released in 2015. Make your peace with this and read on...

Favourite Game: Until Dawn

This might have seemed like a lock for me. It's no secret to long-time E14 readers that I'm a huge fan of the Fallout series, so naturally it would make sense for me to really love the latest instalment of the franchise. Indeed, this is true. I do really love Fallout 4, and it was a very close contender for my Game of 2015. However, I have to give my pick to a game that truly gripped me from start to finish, made me care about the way I played and try my hardest to do certain things as well as possible in order to get the best ending. That game for me this year is Until Dawn, which I was kindly lent by a work colleague. I've since been out and bought my own copy simply on the strength of my playthrough.

For those unfamiliar, Until Dawn takes the form of a horror adventure game, dotted with quick-time events and a branching storyline, featuring the exploits of eight youngsters (it's not entirely clear to me whether they are intended to be teens or just twenty-somethings, but it doesn't really make much odds either way) who find themselves in a particularly unfortunate situation and are trying to survive...until dawn. As my colleague put it so eloquently, "the best ending has them all survive, the worst ending has them all die and you'll probably end up somewhere in the middle." Middle out, I did, with 6/8 surviving until the end despite their best efforts, the silly fools...

Everything about Until Dawn (with the possible exception of the controls, which felt fiddly at times in a similar way to Heavy Rain - not so much that it ever ruined the game for me, but still enough to irk me occasionally) is so masterfully done that it's hard to fault it, not least that the graphics are nothing short of superb. One must commend in particular the incredible work on the facial resemblances to the characters' real-life voice actors (the fact that I could recognise Peter Stormare, a relatively obscure though great actor, without any knowledge of him in the game, speaks to this quality). The actors are also a great fit for their parts, with Stormare in particular having a good old fashioned ham-it-up.

The thing that I like most about the game is that everything fits the tone so well. The music is tense, with orchestral scores punctuating some of the tense moments and elevating them to full-on jump scares. I'm not usually a fan of this sort of game, and am generally critical of media that resorts to jump scares to get its scares from the audience. I suppose, really, that part of the reason that Until Dawn is my favourite of the year is exactly for that reason; I'm not usually a fan of this sort of thing, and yet I loved the game because it's just so well done that I find it difficult to find fault. It's a brilliant execution of classic horror tropes and makes great use of the medium of videogames to ramp up the tension; I've never given much thought to how still I hold the Dual Shock 4 and how much the light bar moves, but I bloody well was when it meant the possibility of life or death!

Honourable mentions: Fallout 4. Despite it not being my favourite game experience of the year, I still bloody love it.
Telltale's Game of Thrones series, particularly Episode 5. Never has a gaming series made me so angry at some of its characters as this series. I found myself really getting quite cross at some of the fates that befall the Forrester family.
Shadowrun Returns - Not a release from this year, but one that I came into finally, after adding it to my Steam library a while back. A really strong RPG with a pretty decent storyline, in a Cyberpunk setting that I find myself increasingly keen on.

Favourite Movie: Gone Girl

In a rare turn-up for the books (mehe), Gone Girl was a novel adaptation that I read before I watched the movie. Usually, I do it the other way around, just to see how much the book adds to the overall narrative. Sometimes the books add a ton of useful stuff (An example of this would be Jurassic Park, which adds a whole darker layer to the beginning of proceedings and doesn't go down that Unix system bullshit from the end of the movie, although if I remember correctly some of the darker points got used in the sequel movie) and sometimes the book adds extra layers of stuff that you can see the reasoning for cutting from a movie adaptation (case in point, V for Vendetta, a wonderful comic with lots of extra layers of stuff that I didn't really miss when they weren't in the film). With Gone Girl, I felt that the movie was sufficiently faithful to the novel and was all the better for it.

While a large reason of why I like the movie so much is the strong novel on which it is based, a movie can have the best story on which to base itself and still fall flat if the casting isn't right, or if the performances aren't up to par. There was none of this with Gone Girl in my view. Affleck is great in his leading role, and backed by strong performances from co-stars, particularly Neil Patrick Harris. However, the best performance in this movie is undoubtedly from Rosamund Pike in her role as Amy. While I have no doubt in my mind that Rosamund Pike is almost certainly a lovely lady in real life, she plays this role so well that I would be wary of approaching her in the street out of fear for my wellbeing. Indeed, this movie shows her really getting into a darker and more sinister character. Again, Gillian Flynn has given her a lot of good stuff to work with, but Pike just nails it at every turn.

The primary measure of strength in a movie, for my money at least, is what percentage of the movie adds value to the story. A good way to think of this is to think about a movie you love and then ask yourself "Did it feel like as much time had passed as had actually passed, or were you sufficiently enraptured that it didn't really register?", with a more exceptional movie feeling like an absolute breeze compared to the running time. I first experienced this feeling in a quantifiable sense when watching the first X-Men. In my mind the movie was going from strength to strength, and then...credits. I remember being bewildered. How could the length of a full motion picture have occurred in that seemingly small space? Gone Girl's running time clocks in at 2hr 29min. To me, it felt like half that, with the time flying past in my head as I checked off scene after scene that I thought did justice to the source material, but I was especially grateful for the length, as I was on an incredibly uncomfortable long-haul flight to Singapore.

It speak to the quality of Gone Girl that I almost immediately watched it again, but I felt that it would be good to see some new stuff and the plane had the third instalment of The Hobbit. That day, I learned to trust my instincts, as while the movie was perfectly watchable, I'd have been much happier watching Rosamund Pike being awesome.

Honourable mentions: John Wick. An enjoyable action movie with some nice touches, and a grim-faced Keanu in full gunslinging glory!
Spectre. A fun, though flawed, Bond movie with some enjoyable action sequences and some good performances in a pretty good story. Needs more Christoph Waltz. Doesn't everything, though?
Ant-Man. A great superhero movie with similar levels of fun to Guardians Of The Galaxy.
Star Wars: The Force Awakens. There's something to be said for a movie you're happy to see four times in the first week of release. Not by any means a perfect movie, but a really strong addition to the franchise and it does a great job of getting people excited about Star Wars again. STAR WARS!

Favourite TV Series: Attack On Titan

My experience of anime pre-2015 was severely limited, with my knowledge almost exclusively restricted to anime series based on popular video games (Dead Space and Devil May Cry spring to mind, although I couldn't tell you their plots) and Naruto Shippuden (which despite numerous reviews of the series bearing my name, I still had to fucking look up the spelling of). This year, I found myself on Netflix one day (other video streaming services are available, and indeed I'm subscribed to one or two of them) and was at a loss as to what to watch. My brain pinged back to an E14 post by Sour Crouch last year, recommending a Flash-based game based on the series, and his subsequent endorsement of the series to me in our chats following the post.

I'm pleased in hindsight that I asked him about it, and not just because of his delicious opinions on which I rely for sustenance. Back in the realm of my bored brain choosing a Netflix show, my brain subsequently went "Ooh, you said you'd check out Attack On Titan sometime. This is a time. You should do it now". Sure enough, I did, and am glad for having done so. What a show. Although I learned about halfway through that there were more options than just Japanese language accompanied by English subtitles, I found myself determined to see the series through with my original choice of Japanese audio. Don't get me wrong, I would've been totally lost on the subtleties of the lingo without subtitles, but maybe it's a credit to the storytelling that I don't feel I couldn't have followed purely on the grounds of the visuals and the tone of dialogue delivery.

Some things that I do know follow. The art direction is nothing short of excellent, with particular kudos aimed at whoever made the Titan designs, because they are unsettling as fuck. They do a superb job of making the Titans look like things it would be reasonable to fear, and not just through their consumption of normal-sized human beings. The characters you follow throughout are put in sufficient amounts of peril and have well-developed back stories for the most part, giving you a little more investment in their fate. What's more, the intrigue posed throughout the series adds a fun level of urgency to proceedings when you realise there are only a few episodes left of the series and they're nowhere near finding out what the FUCK is in that cellar.

The series does a great job, ultimately, in making you invest in what it portrays. I'm not suggesting that the world in which we live now in any way resembles the world of Attack on Titan, as that would be ridiculous (anyone who listens to the podcasts knows that the world is actually like The Hunger Games). What the series does do, however, is make you feel like humanity is on the back foot. Their enemies can't be bargained with or reasoned with, and the reasons for even their existence are entirely unclear to anyone who hasn't read the manga (Disclaimer: I've only read the first volume, so for all I know the reasons for the Titans' existence isn't even clear in the manga, I'm just speculating wildly because I can). Anyway, the humans are pegged back, and have to utilise their best strategies to make progress against seemingly mindless monsters that wish to snuff out their existence for no other reason than insufficient portion sizes at Pret and similar eateries. They probably haven't got money for food even if the portion sizes were there, on reflection. But I digress.

As a semi-related aside, what is it with anime series changing their theme tunes all the time? The choices are often perfectly good alternatives, but in the middle of a long series it's properly jarring. Anyway, it's semi-related as the first half of the series has one of the best theme tunes and intro sequences I've seen in a series. I like the song so much that it's my alarm tone in the morning, as the stirring intro is good for get-up-and-go, and makes the mundane (which is to say a 31 year old IT worker from Kent waking up for a weekday) feel that little bit more epic than it would otherwise be (which is, unsurprisingly, not very).

Honourable mentions: Deathnote. A tremendous story, which keeps you guessing throughout as to the outcome. Having said that, I can only ever watch it once now that I know.
Knights of Sidonia. Yeah, I know, you'd be forgiven for thinking that all I've watched this year is anime. Nevertheless, this is a strong series with an imaginative premise, which keeps you engaged throughout.
Constantine. Because I have my biases. I'm by no means a comic expert, but Constantine has always been one of my favourites. It's not without reason that the show gets an honourable mention, though, as the series is really strong. It's just a shame that it didn't get picked up for a second series, but so it goes.

Favourite Book: Speaker For The Dead - Orson Scott Card

Last year, for the first time, I read Ender's Game. Had I done a Best of 2014 list for books, Card's most notable work would no doubt have found its way onto the list. A stunning piece of science fiction, Speaker For The Dead takes place in the same universe and shows how the world has changed following the events of Ender's Game. Chronicling the story of a colony on a distant world which is having to deal with some recent unexplained deaths, Speaker For The Dead is an absolute masterpiece of narrative fiction. It's no surprise to me that Orson Scott Card thinks of Speaker For The Dead as the story he really wanted to write, as an interview at the end of the excellent audiobook version tells us. It reads like a labour of love, seeking to give more depth to the ending of Ender's Game and further the impact of the storyline events. If you read one book by Card, read Ender's Game, then read Speaker For The Dead because it makes it better. I know what I said.

Honourable mentions: The Cuckoo's Calling - Robert Galbraith. Whether writing under her own name or as Galbraith, Rowling has always been one to spin a good story. The Cormoran Strike books (that's his name) continue this trend, switching from the fantastical to the more classic gritty detective story. With a compelling protagonist and an engrossing mystery, there is scarcely a better intro to a detective series than this one.
The Hobbit - J.R.R. Tolkien. A classic, which I have criminally only just become familiar with. I am frankly *amazed* that Peter Jackson was able to get a 3 hour movie out of the Battle of the Five Armies, as well.
The Princess Bride - William Goldman. A really funny and heart-warming book which deals both with the fantastically entertaining The Princess Bride story, and a bit of additional history of the author's own life and his reasons for abridging the original story.

Well, there you have it. My favourites of 2015 have now come at you. I hope you enjoyed reading them, and whether you agree or disagree with my feelings thanks for reading!

Friday 18 December 2015

The E14 Gamecast - Episode 11 - December 2015

We get together, for the purposes of talking about the best stuff we've played this year.

Starring: Blake Harmer, Brad Harmer, Rob Wade

We'd love to get your thoughts on the games we talk about! We talk about all sorts of stuff, including:

  • Fallout: New Vegas
  • Assassin's Creed
  • Star Wars: Uprising
  • This War Of Mine
  • FTL
  • Door Kickers
  • Convoy
  • Elder Sign
  • Thunderbolt Apache Leader
  • X-Wing
  • Alien Vs Predator
  • Ghostbusters
  • Nidhogg
  • Fallout 4
  • Arkham Origins
  • Until Dawn
  • Blood Bowl 2
  • We talk theoretically about a theoretical thing in a theoretical world
  • We talk a bit about stuff we're excited for
  • We talk a bit about what we like about the Xbox One and PS4

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Friday 11 December 2015

Man-Baby Power Hour (The Quest For Constantine)!

Earlier in 2015, E14 chap Rob Wade had an idea:

Within the Justice League Trinity War Heroclix set, there was one figure that he really wanted. That figure was the John Constantine sculpt that formed part of the set. Wouldn't it be cool to document himself opening a Gravity Feed box of Heroclix, with the objective of finding a particular figure that he really wanted from the new set?

The answer, of course, is that it would absolutely be cool. However, what would be even cooler is if the figure you wanted could ever be in the box. It turns out that this is not the way that Gravity Feed boxes work when they are not tied into a movie (where most, if not all, of the figures available are in the box). In actual fact, when the series has a Gravity Feed and Booster box component, there are only around 10 figures available to choose from! Not realising this, Rob picked up a box and began his video recording blissfully unaware of his mathematical conundrum.

Once realising (nearly halfway through the recording) that this was the case, Rob was faced with a dilemma. Should he release the videos (originally planned to be 24 short instalments) as 11 individual videos, or consign it to the depths of obscurity forever? In the end, this was the decision. One video, used as a learning tool to get to grips with the new video editing software Rob is now enamored with (Trakax, for those curious). Once done, Rob decided it was simply too much effort to do all this learning and not do something with it

Here, therefore, is the Man-Baby Power Hour (clocking in at 24 minutes having been cut down by crushing reality). Enjoy, and be gentle in the comments below!

Friday 27 November 2015

The Crazy Train! Episode 35 - "So Deep It's Not Falsetto!"

In this episode:

  • We talk a bit about #PigGate (Farming term of the year, ruined forever)
  • We reminisce about university, framed against our experiences watching Donnie Darko
  • We talk about our first experience watching The Matrix
  • We enthuse about Richard O'Brien
  • We talk about Kickstarter and crowdfunding
  • We talk about jackets
  • Rob vents about a common complaint he hears
  • Brad pitches a question about signed books
  • Rob vents about the Paedophilecast - coming never!
  • We talk a bit about signed things and convention stuff
  • Rob vents about his new house, which is neither new nor his house
  • There's a teaser of an upcoming Youtube endeavour
  • Brad got married! We talk a bit about that!
  • We talk on horror movies a bit
  • We talk about Benicio Del Toro
  • From the mailbag: If you could go for a beer with anyone from history, who would it be and why?
  • Spun off from the mailbag: If you could go for a beer with anyone fictional, who would it be and why?
  • From the mailbag: What's your ideal superpower?
  • We spin off (as we so often do) into how we'd use infinite power frivolously for our own ends
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Friday 13 November 2015

E14 Presents - The GameCast! Episode 10 - Best of 2015 (As of September)

We get together, for the purposes of talking about the best stuff we've played this year.

Starring: Blake Harmer, Brad Harmer, Rob Wade

We'd love to get your thoughts on the games we talk about! We talk about all sorts of stuff, including:

  • The upcoming deluge
  • Star Wars: Uprising
  • Destiny
  • GTAV
  • Sleeping Dogs
  • GTAIV
  • Adventure Capitalist
  • Wrestling Revolution
  • Nidhogg
  • Metal Gear Solid V
  • The Order: 1886
  • Bad games that we didn't think *as* bad as others did
  • Viva Pinata
  • Bloodborne
  • The Wolf Among Us
  • Sunset Overdrive
  • Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor
  • Valiant Hearts: The Great War
  • Mafia 2
  • Uncharted 3
  • Wolfenstein: The New Order
  • Watch Dogs
  • Infamous 2
  • Arkham Knight
  • Arkham Origins
  • LEGO City: Undercover
  • LEGO games in general
  • The Unfinished Swan
  • Rain
  • Rocket League
  • Metro 2033

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Monday 19 October 2015

The Crazy Train! Episode 34 - "MailbagCast!"

In this episode of The Crazy Train...

  • Blake doubles up.
  • Rob goes off on one about spiders.
  • We talk about the difference between gypsies and others.
  • We decide to do an impromptu mailbag with previously unavailable guests Marc and Brad.
  • From the mailbag: What is your favourite word?
  • From the mailbag: What is your least favourite word?
  • From the mailbag: If you could give 15-year-old you one piece of advice for the future, what would it be?
  • Rob tells a hypothetical story.
  • From the mailbag: Did you ever have a toy growing up that, looking back, you realise was a complete piece of shit?
  • From the mailbag: If you had the power to do so, what act would you put in place to attempt to make the world a better place?
  • From the mailbag: If you had the power to do so, what act would you put in place for purely frivolous reasons that means nothing on paper?
  • We spin into this question: When did you last catch your brain thinking something and go "For F***'s sake!"?
  • From the mailbag: What was the last movie you saw that blew you away?
  • We talk a bit about actors and how they've influenced our lives.

Starring: Rob Wade, Blake Harmer, Marc Cummins, Brad Harmer.

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Monday 21 September 2015

E14 Presents - The GameCast! Episode 9 - What Games You Gaming?

We get together, purely for the purposes of chatting about what we're playing.

Starring: Blake Harmer, Brad Harmer, Rob Wade

We'd love to get your thoughts on the games we talk about! We talk about all sorts of stuff, including:

  • Heavy Rain
  • WWE 2K14
  • Bloodborne
  • Batman: Arkham Knight
  • Dying Light
  • Dead Island
  • The Bureau: X-Com Declassified
  • Dragon Age: Inquisition
  • Rocket League
  • Rogue Legacy
  • The Witcher
  • Papers Please
  • FTL: Faster Than Light
  • Star Wars: Armada
  • Star Wars: Imperial Assault
  • Heroclix
  • Elder Sign
  • X-Com: The Boardgame
  • Pandemic
  • Sid Meier's Ace Patrol
  • Battle Masters
  • Eldritch Horror
  • Thunder Road
  • Cosmic Encounter
  • Thief
  • Just Cause 2
  • We talk a bit about what we're excited for.

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Friday 4 September 2015

E14 Presents - The Crazy Train! Episode 33 - "Second Time, Every Time!"

In this episode of The Crazy Train...

  • We welcome back Marc, exile!
  • We talk about the thinning of the hair.
  • Marc tells us about his trip away.
  • We have a pop at Paul Hogan.
  • Rob tells a story about some holiday photos. Warning: Loud.
  • Rob shares his theory about Lovecraft.
  • Marc talks about Hobbiton.
  • Rob marks his territory - the entire Internet.
  • We talk about porn sites that almost certainly exist.
  • We talk about growing up.
  • Rob rants about country roads...Oh wait, no, we Omer ourselves.
  • We talk about wrestlers and steroids.
  • We talk about Predator.
  • We talk about country roads.
  • We vent a bit about special editions.
  • Rob shares a story about an old tweet.
  • We talk a bit about movies.
  • We talk a bit about Godzilla.
  • We talk a bit about horror.
  • From the E14 Mailbag: Did you ever walk into a movie with little or no expectations and end up really enjoying it?
  • Spun off from the E14 Mailbag: Did you walk into a movie with high expectations and end up bitterly disappointed?

Starring: Rob Wade, Blake Harmer, Marc Cummins, Brad Harmer.

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Wednesday 2 September 2015

From Our Friends At Suppressing Fire...Brick Fury!

As some of our readers and podcast listeners might know, some of Team E14 also contribute to Brad's website, Suppressing Fire! If you like the video, check out the site and their Facebook page here for more unboxings!

Wednesday 19 August 2015

E14 Presents - The GameCast! Episode 8 - Let's Play...Eldritch Horror!

In somewhat of a break from the norm on E14, we break out the dice and cards and play a board game! This time round, it's the turn of Fantasy Flight Games' Lovecraft-inspired piece of excellence, Eldritch Horror! Will our intrepid heroes survive? Unlikely, but why not find out for sure?!

Starring: Brad Harmer, Spike Direction, Rob Wade

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Friday 10 July 2015

E14 Presents: The Crazy Train! Episode 32 - Using All The Pork!

In this episode of The Crazy Train...

  • Rob gets a train story reminder from the intros.
  • We talk a bit about arcades.
  • We market "Crouch Sushi".
  • We reminisce a bit about 90s TV shows.
  • Crouch talks a bit about TV shows he watched as a kid (briefly, before we mock him).
  • Brad and Rob talk a bit about TV shows Crouch might have watched as a kid (I feel like we did this wrong somehow...)
  • Brad and Rob talk about TV shows they watched as a kid.
  • We talk about TV shows we enjoy.
  • We wax enthusiastic about "The Prestige".
  • From the E14 Mailbag: What's something about you that not many people know?
  • We talk about musicals a bit.
  • From the E14 Mailbag: What's something trivial that gets you irrationally angry?
  • Rob goes on a brief philosophical tangent.
  • After an off-rails discussion, we go to our first albums ever bought.
  • From the E14 Mailbag: What's the last movie you saw that blew you away?

Starring: Rob Wade, Blake Harmer, Sour Crouch, Brad Harmer

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Wednesday 24 June 2015

E14 Presents - The GameCast! Episode 7

We get together, purely for the purposes of chatting about what we're playing.

Starring: Blake Harmer, Sour Crouch, Rob Wade

We'd love to get your thoughts on the games we talk about! We talk about all sorts of stuff, including:

  • Warframe.
  • Destiny
  • Helldivers
  • Final Fantasy Type 0
  • Bloodborne
  • Wolfenstein
  • P.T
  • Konami
  • Playstation Now
  • Dragon Age: Inquisition
  • Gunpoint
  • Shadow Warrior
  • Rogue Legacy
  • Olli Olli 2
  • Season Passes
  • Sunset Overdrive
  • 007: Blood Stone
  • Wii U
  • Tank! Tank! Tank!
  • What we're looking forward to.
  • Shadow of Mordor
  • Witcher 3
  • Halo 5
  • Fallout 4

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Friday 19 June 2015

Emotionally14...Talks E3

Well, E3 winds to a close for another year. Let us talk at you about some of the things that have us excited! Rob Wade is joined by Sour Crouch!

Sunday 31 May 2015

E14 Presents: The Crazy Train! Episode 31 - Trademark!

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The Crazy Train Page on E14

In this episode of The Crazy Train...

  • We talk about who's here and who isn't.
  • We talk about ageing a bit.
  • Rob talks about his trip to Singapore, including:
  • Rob talks about a Crazy Train callback dessert he had in Borneo.
  • Brad talks about a weird thing he found in Switzerland.
  • Rob talks about Singapore in general.
  • Rob enthuses about Singapore Zoo.
  • Brad talks about a zoo.
  • Rob talks about wolverines.
  • Rob talks about a couple they met on the holiday.
  • Brad tells a story about holding back on a joke.
  • Crouch hypothesises about how to attain Nirvana.
  • Rob tells some sleep talking stories.
  • Rob "calls out" Spike.
  • Rob creates a new character on the show, who is instantly Brad's favourite.
  • Blake doesn't know what a bear is.
  • Rob tells of some strange dreams he and his girlfriend had.
  • Rob talks a bit more about Singapore Zoo.
  • Rob talks a bit about watching orangutans in Borneo.
  • Siri gets an attitude.
  • Rob has a rant about aeroplane travel.
  • From the mailbag: If Hell were a shopping centre, which shops would be in yours?

Starring: Rob Wade, Blake Harmer, Sour Crouch, Brad Harmer

Main site: Http://www.emotionally14.com
Facebook: Http://www.facebook.com/emotionally14
Twitter: @emotionally14
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/emotionally14

Saturday 30 May 2015

Crazy Train Appreciation Month - Episode 30!

Visiting a closed theme park? Sex stories? Unusual sources of excitement? The Crazy Train is in town!

Let us know what you think of the video in the comments below (either here or on the video) and keep it tuned to E14's Youtube page for more from our flagship podcast, The Crazy Train!

Friday 29 May 2015

Crazy Train Appreciation Month - Episode 29!

Diabetes? Engagements? Jewellery discounts from 1576? Shitty children's toys? A bunch of tits falling about laughing? It can only be The Crazy Train!

Starring: Blake Harmer, Omer Ibrahim, Rob Wade

Let us know what you think of the video in the comments below (either here or on the video) and keep it tuned to E14's Youtube page for more from our flagship podcast, The Crazy Train!

Thursday 28 May 2015

Crazy Train Appreciation Month - Episode 28!

Swedish Chef? Public transport weirdness? Mailbag questions? Rob exploding? It can only be The Crazy Train!

Starring: Blake Harmer, Omer Ibrahim, Rob Wade

Let us know what you think of the video in the comments below (either here or on the video) and keep it tuned to E14's Youtube page for more from our flagship podcast, The Crazy Train!

Wednesday 27 May 2015

Crazy Train Appreciation Month - Episode 27!

In this episode, we talk a bit about Rob's trip to a casino, and Omer dons his tinfoil hat for the purposes of answering questions from the E14 mailbag!

Starring: Blake Harmer, Omer Ibrahim, Rob Wade

Let us know what you think of the video in the comments below (either here or on the video) and keep it tuned to E14's Youtube page for more from our flagship podcast, The Crazy Train!

Tuesday 26 May 2015

Crazy Train Appreciation Month - Episode 26!

In this episode:

  • We discuss party etiquette.
  • Rob has another dream.
  • Omer talks about a date he went on back in the single days.
  • Omer gets Omer'd.
  • Wrestling puns from the most unlikely place.
  • Spike comes out of his shell.
  • Omer puts on Spike's hat.
  • We get a listener question.
  • Spike interrupts to expose Crouch as a bad man.
  • We get sent a link to some Dinosaur Erotica.
  • Rob reads some.
  • We field another question from the mailbag.
  • Rob tells of the contents of the Trash Wizard's window.
  • We field another question from the mailbag.
  • We end on a positive note.

Starring: Blake Harmer, Omer Ibrahim, Sour Crouch, Spike Direction, Rob Wade

Let us know what you think of the video in the comments below (either here or on the video) and keep it tuned to E14's Youtube page for more from our flagship podcast, The Crazy Train!

Monday 25 May 2015

Crazy Train Appreciation Month - Episode 25!

In this episode:

  • We talk a little about our hiatus (That's right, another one).
  • We talk loyalty.
  • We talk Spike's Change Of Direction.
  • We talk Spike's leaving do.
  • Spike talks about his new job.
  • Rob tells a terrible joke (deliberately, this time).
  • Rob unveils...The E14 mailbag.
  • Our first question is...
  • We talk about Fun House.
  • We talk bidets.
  • Crouch talks about his farts.
  • Rob talks about a recent pub quiz.
  • Spike talks about poaching the cast for his new show.
  • We enthuse about Brian Blessed.
  • Rob talks about a recent embarrassing event.
  • Omer talks about various falls.
  • Spike talks coach crashes.
  • We devolve into all sort of craziness.
  • #Craazyy.

Starring: Blake Harmer, Omer Ibrahim, Sour Crouch, Spike Direction, Rob Wade

Let us know what you think of the video in the comments below (either here or on the video) and keep it tuned to E14's Youtube page for more from our flagship podcast, The Crazy Train!

Sunday 24 May 2015

Crazy Train Appreciation Month - Episode 24!

In this episode:

  • The cast talk about Facebook Like whores.
  • Omer talks about Salute, the wargaming convention.
  • We talk about the new 300 movie.
  • We talk a bit of history.
  • We talk about Wrestlemania
  • We talk gambling
  • We talk about spoilers

Starring: Blake Harmer, Omer Ibrahim, Rob Wade

Let us know what you think of the video in the comments below (either here or on the video) and keep it tuned to E14's Youtube page for more from our flagship podcast, The Crazy Train!

Saturday 23 May 2015

Crazy Train Appreciation Month - Episode 23!

In this episode:

  • We talk a little about our short absence.
  • Omer talks about his birthday and Vikings.
  • We enthuse about science and such.
  • We talk about museums as a whole.
  • We talk a bit about Twitter.
  • Rob talks a little about McDonald's.
  • We talk a bit about one of Omer's arsey customers.

Starring: Rob Wade, Blake Harmer, Omer Ibrahim

Let us know what you think of the video in the comments below (either here or on the video) and keep it tuned to E14's Youtube page for more from our flagship podcast, The Crazy Train!

Friday 22 May 2015

Crazy Train Appreciation Month - Episode 22!

In this episode:

  • Rob talks about a TV show he's been enjoying called Catfish.
  • We talk about shows that seem too tidy.
  • We enthuse about 90s cartoons.
  • Omer rants on Extreme Couponing.
  • We talk about tall people.
  • We talk about Welsh accents.
  • We talk Storage Hunters.
  • Omer tells a story about Americans.
  • We talk about faking accents.
  • We have a laugh at a silly man with a forklift.
  • We talk about confectionery.
  • We have fun with confectionery puns.
  • We talk upcoming movies.
  • We talk superheroes.
  • We talk Ninja Turtles.

Starring: Rob Wade, Blake Harmer, Omer Ibrahim, Sour Crouch, Spike Direction.

Let us know what you think of the video in the comments below (either here or on the video) and keep it tuned to E14's Youtube page for more from our flagship podcast, The Crazy Train!

Thursday 21 May 2015

Crazy Train Appreciation Month - Episode 21!

In this episode:

  • We talk about the Harry Potter tour (briefly).
  • Crouch and Spike open some LEGO blind bag figures.
  • We talk a bit about videogames.
  • We enthuse about Super Nintendo.
  • We talk technology, and how cool it is.
  • Omer tells us a little about a phrase.
  • Omer talks about how he became the new Trash Wizard.
  • Rob tells of a fresh Trash Wizard sighting.
  • We talk about Jurassic Park and Greek Mythology.
  • We debate the origin of the word "Quiz".
  • We talk about weird foods.

Starring: Rob Wade, Blake Harmer, Omer Ibrahim, Sour Crouch, Spike Direction.

Let us know what you think of the video in the comments below (either here or on the video) and keep it tuned to E14's Youtube page for more from our flagship podcast, The Crazy Train!

Wednesday 20 May 2015

Crazy Train Appreciation Month - Episode 20!

In this episode:

  • Omer's hamster gets lost.
  • We talk Africa.
  • Brad just saw The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug.
  • Omer and Brad talk Thor.
  • We talk about Will Smith, Nathan Fillion and such.
  • We talk pubs.
  • We talk upselling at local shops.
  • Omer talks getting his Xbox One.
  • We talk retail.
  • Blake talks about his unfortunate PS4 buying experience. He has one now though, so that's fine.
  • We talk purchasing.

  • (Editor's note: Toy Story was 1995, not 1993. We know, Internet. Calm down in advance.
  • Omer gives some "customer is always an arsehole" perspective.
  • Blake talks about his PS4, and we have a civilised debate about consoles.
  • We talk weather. Spike and Crouch tell a snow story.
  • We talk about stupidity and dated cultural references.
  • We have a slight technical glitch in our outro phase.

Starring: Rob Wade, Omer Ibrahim, Blake Harmer, Brad Harmer, Spike Direction, Sour Crouch.

Let us know what you think of the video in the comments below (either here or on the video) and keep it tuned to E14's Youtube page for more from our flagship podcast, The Crazy Train!

Tuesday 19 May 2015

Crazy Train Appreciation Month - Episode 19!

In this episode:

  • We have some fun with our intros.
  • Spike springs a leak.
  • We talk about Trivial Pursuit.
  • Omer talks about a customer care story he found amusing.
  • Brad talks about his trip to Miami.
  • Spike tells a drunk story.
  • We talk concussions.
  • Blake tells a drunk story.
  • Spike tells more drunk story.
  • Omer tells a story about checking someone for drunkenness - rectally.
  • We talk about people becoming more posh.
  • Brad tells a driving story.
  • Rob tells an accent story
  • We talk actors.

Starring: Rob Wade, Omer Ibrahim, Blake Harmer, Brad Harmer, Spike Direction & Sour Crouch

Let us know what you think of the video in the comments below (either here or on the video) and keep it tuned to E14's Youtube page for more from our flagship podcast, The Crazy Train!

Monday 18 May 2015

Crazy Train Appreciation Month - Episode 18!

In Episode 18 (not 17) of the show...

  • We talk about Queen's post-Freddie woes.
  • We talk a little about the plans for The Crazy Train over December.
  • We talk our love of what-would-i-say.com
  • We pitch some more Deadliest Warrior episodes.
  • We talk about Gandhi and Brian Blessed.
  • We talk about whether Brad is coming back.
  • We discuss our love of Jim'll Paint It.
  • We talk a new business plan for HMV.
  • Brad can now lay Creme Eggs. We decided.
  • We enthuse about another Internet thing.
  • We talk social media.
  • Spike talks classic TV atrocities.
  • We give a shout out to our number 1 super fan, Paul J.
  • Crouch and Spike get a chance to weigh in on their recent gig.
  • Crouch, Spike and Omer talk phonecall etiquette.
  • We joke about some Omer-related merchandise.
  • The bands of The Crazy Train have a dick measuring contest (with a difference)
  • Spike and Crouch bemoan the local scene.
  • We talk a broader sense of the Internet and stuff, which links into the grander discussion.
  • We talk fun.
  • We talk tech.
  • Omer tells the story of how he shut down The Wrestling Channel (finally)

Starring: Rob Wade, Blake Harmer, Omer Ibrahim, Sour Crouch, Spike Direction

Let us know what you think of the video in the comments below (either here or on the video) and keep it tuned to E14's Youtube page for more from our flagship podcast, The Crazy Train!

Sunday 17 May 2015

Crazy Train Appreciation Month - Episode 17!

In Episode 17 (not 18) of The Crazy Train:

  • We play Cards Against Humanity
  • Rob gives a little mid-show explanation.
  • We play Braggart.

Let us know what you think of the video in the comments below (either here or on the video) and keep it tuned to E14's Youtube page for more from our flagship podcast, The Crazy Train!

Saturday 16 May 2015

Crazy Train Appreciation Month - Episode 16!

In this episode of The Crazy Train...

  • We talk trains.
  • Blake reminds us not to talk about the pie factory...by talking about the pie factory.
  • Rob gives a little disclaimer about Episode 15.
  • Rob talks about a gig he attended the night before.
  • Rob encounters the brother of The Trash Wizard (maybe)
  • Omer tells a story about posing as a band member.
  • Rob tells a story about encountering his biggest fan (which isn't saying much, when you hear the story).
  • We imagine a slight variation on the Star Wars Saga.
  • Rob encounters the son of The Trash Wizard (almost certainly)
  • We talk about our problems with local artists.
  • We talk about mediocrity (we're not experts or anything...too awesome)
  • Blake and Rob talk about their experiences at the ale festival.
  • Rob reads some fantastic junk mail.
  • Brad rants on *the* advert for 2013.
  • Brad tells one of his favourite jokes ever.
  • Omer talks about an advert he can't locate online.
  • We talk about the new Thomas The Tank Engine.
  • We talk about Collectors' Items.
  • We tease some episodes of Deadliest Warrior.
  • Brad gives you a weird mental image (which we proceed to make weirder still)
  • BONUS: We hear an audio message from star of Episode 14 and 15 Marc Cummins.

Starring: Rob Wade, Blake Harmer, Omer Ibrahim, Brad Harmer

Let us know what you think of the video in the comments below (either here or on the video) and keep it tuned to E14's Youtube page for more from our flagship podcast, The Crazy Train!

Friday 15 May 2015

Crazy Train Appreciation Month - Episode 15!

In this episode:

  • We talk about Brad being the "Alpha".
  • Omer has a construction project.
  • Rob, Marc and Blake went to Eurogamer! Rob tells a story about zombies being beaten by Judges (the 2000AD kind)
  • We talk a bit about Twitter and the Internet at large. Rob and Blake talk about what they played at Eurogamer.
  • Omer talks about the time he got accused of pissing in public.
  • Rob and Marc tell a story about actually pissing in public.
  • Rob and Blake went to London Film and Comic Con.
  • Brad talks about his feelings on cosplay.
  • The cast talks being geek.
  • Omer says what he thinks might be his most controversial sentence in show history.
  • Rob tells a story about his tech teachers.
  • We share some stories about when we were put in craazyy situations.
  • Brad tells a New Road story.
  • Marc tells a New Road story.
  • Rob tells two nice New Road stories.
  • Rob says goodbye to an old friend.

Starring: Rob Wade, Blake Harmer, Omer Ibrahim, Brad Harmer, Marc Cummins

Let us know what you think of the video in the comments below (either here or on the video) and keep it tuned to E14's Youtube page for more from our flagship podcast, The Crazy Train!

Thursday 14 May 2015

Crazy Train Appreciation Month - Episode 14!

In this episode:

  • Blake sets the intro standard.
  • We introduce a special guest.
  • We talk about Omer's new book (and Blake's really old one).
  • Marc talks about his upcoming travels.
  • We talk about Omer's recent barbecue and the tragedies that befell Rob therein.
  • Rob fears all lizards apparently.
  • Rob inhales smoke.
  • The cast talks about banana jousting (not as pervy as it sounds).
  • Omer and Brad discuss the Viking Festival they recently attended.
  • We talk about Brad's comedy Scandinavian accent (in character).
  • Omer talks about his health and safety approach (Warning: Do not try these things at home. The two involved are trained professionals and/or f*****g lunatics).
  • Rob talks about another weird dream he's had.
  • Blake talks about a weird night causing him to talk in his sleep.
  • Omer talks about talking in his sleep.
  • Brad tells a story of his girlfriend talking in her sleep.

Starring: Rob Wade, Omer Ibrahim, Brad Harmer, Blake Harmer, Marc Cummins

Let us know what you think of the video in the comments below (either here or on the video) and keep it tuned to E14's Youtube page for more from our flagship podcast, The Crazy Train!

Wednesday 13 May 2015

Crazy Train Appreciation Month - Episode 13!

In this episode:

  • Rob gives a brief insight into why online dating is a mixed bag.
  • Omer does a wrestling match!
  • Rob wants to become a koala bear (apparently)
  • Omer issues a challenge.
  • Spike has a random question.
  • Rob discovers the Ohmer.
  • Rob tells a story about Chatham.
  • Omer tells a story about Sheppey.
  • Spike talks about Fringe things (the comedy place, not hair).
  • We pitch the Stuff Roadshow.
  • Omer has a wobbly raptor.
  • Rob gets a morality perspective.
  • Rob tells some Trash Wizard stories.
  • This episode includes an origin story of The Trash Wizard!

Starring: Rob Wade, Blake Harmer, Omer Ibrahim, Sour Crouch, Spike Direction

Let us know what you think of the video in the comments below (either here or on the video) and keep it tuned to E14's Youtube page for more from our flagship podcast, The Crazy Train!

Tuesday 12 May 2015

Crazy Train Appreciation Month - Episode 12!

In this episode:

  • Rob gives a behind-the-scenes.
  • We talk about insects.
  • Spike and Crouch share some Crap Facts.
  • We gather the cast's thoughts on Ben Affleck as Batman.
  • We talk about the 2015 Blockbuster season (not the video shop)
  • Omer talks mainstream.
  • We talk some more about movies.
  • We talk Ron Perlman.
  • Omer talks antibiotics.
  • We talk a bit more about movies (and Ron Perlman)
  • We talk Angry Birds and Rob loses his s**t.
  • Rob points out some hypocrisy on social media.
  • We talk...movies and geekery. Sense a theme?
  • Omer talks Turisas. That's not a movie. Somehow.
  • Crouch talks Fable 3.
  • We talk Spartans.
  • Crouch tells a sex story. (NSFW - I CANNOT EMPHASISE THAT ENOUGH)
  • Rob tells one.
  • Omer tells one.
  • Crouch tells another one (SEE ABOVE)
  • And another one...(SEE ABOVE)
  • And...another one (YOU GUESSED IT)
  • Omer ends the show as only Omer can: With loud noises.

Starring: Rob Wade, Sour Crouch, Spike Direction, Omer Ibrahim, Blake Harmer

Let us know what you think of the video in the comments below (either here or on the video) and keep it tuned to E14's Youtube page for more from our flagship podcast, The Crazy Train!

Monday 11 May 2015

Crazy Train Appreciation Month - Episode 11!

In this episode:

  • Sour Crouch is too funky.
  • Rob and Crouch present their TV show pitch.
  • The rest of the cast have a go at improving the premise, with sexy results.
  • Brad talks about winding up Rob's sister's love of documentaries.
  • We talk geek stuff (shocker, right?)
  • Omer...just kind of talks. There's a thing about Power Rangers and Magic School Buses that literally makes no sense. And I was there...
  • We do the Swedish Chef voice and talk geography.
  • Omer is sick of Hastings already.
  • We declare war on Hastings (via Omer)
  • We enjoy the idea of Rolf Harris in Battle
  • Rob talks about a date he went on (briefly).
  • Omer covers a noise...with a noise.
  • Rob has some more info about The Trash Wizard (E14's "7th man")
  • We mock a drunken driving instructor (not a real one).
  • Rob tells a story about a drunk guy on the train.

Starring: Rob Wade, Omer Ibrahim, Blake Harmer, Brad Harmer, Spike Direction, Sour Crouch

Let us know what you think of the video in the comments below (either here or on the video) and keep it tuned to E14's Youtube page for more from our flagship podcast, The Crazy Train!

Sunday 10 May 2015

Crazy Train Appreciation Month - Episode 10!

In this episode:

  • It's a full house on The Crazy Train this episode - all 6 of Team E14 is in attendance!
  • Omer suggests a new catchphrase for Rob.
  • Rob initiates a celebration in honour of The Crazy Train's success.
  • We drink some terrible s**t. I cannot stress that enough.
  • Rob *has* to recant on a guarantee.
  • Brad and Omer talk about going to a wargaming convention.
  • We talk a bit of geek.
  • Omer is...king of the poofs. (Context is in the episode).
  • We talk about a wedding, and Omer's drunken girlfriend.
  • Omer talks about playing a gig at a pagan wedding. (Yep, that's right).
  • Brad exposes Omer as a vampire.
  • Brad tells a story about a fashion victim.
  • Rob talks about having seen The Trash Wizard.
  • Omer gives Crouch a catchphrase (unwittingly).
  • We mock a Youtube commenter (not on an E14 video).
  • Omer talks about a tree which invaded his shop.
  • Omer eats a terrible concoction.
  • Rob learns some info about The Trash Wizard, and feels the need to share.

Starring: Rob Wade, Omer Ibrahim, Blake Harmer, Brad Harmer, Sour Crouch, Spike Direction.

Let us know what you think of the video in the comments below (either here or on the video) and keep it tuned to E14's Youtube page for more from our flagship podcast, The Crazy Train!

Saturday 9 May 2015

Crazy Train Appreciation Month - Episode 9!

On this episode:

  • Rob gives the crew some nicknames.
  • Rob tells a story about a(nother) weird dream.
  • Omer tells a story about a dream centaur.
  • Rob tells a story about his friend's Canadian adventures.
  • We talk terrible social networking/tattoos.
  • Brad and Omer talk about...Nazis. (That's wargaming related, controversy fans).
  • We talk about beards.
  • Rob hates Brad's face (via a magician).
  • Omer talks about being on a wrestling data website. (During the conversation, he brings up how people should be careful spreading hate even in a humourous context. There's an irony in that, isn't there?)
  • We talk wrestling and stuff.
  • Rob gets irked by the recent XboxOne reveal (yep, we record that far ahead at times).
  • We do some advertising for Crazy Train merchandise. We talk about being the best at the sex.
  • Omer leaves the room, and we have some fun.
  • We talk about being middle class whiteys.
  • Rob tells a story from his and Brad's standup days.
  • Brad tells a story about ageing.
  • We talk about the shows we grew up on as kids.

Starring: Rob Wade, Blake Harmer, Omer Ibrahim, Brad Harmer

Let us know what you think of the video in the comments below (either here or on the video) and keep it tuned to E14's Youtube page for more from our flagship podcast, The Crazy Train!

Friday 8 May 2015

Crazy Train Appreciation Month - Episode 8!

In this episode:

  • We talk about being a bit old when it comes to buying food/drink.
  • We talk about our purchases, and monthly niche magazines.
  • Omer deep-throats a sausage LIVE ON AIR.
  • Omer gives an update on his Legless LEGO Legatus.
  • We talk food some more.
  • Rob discovers a gender-reassigning toilet.
  • Omer tells a festival story.
  • Rob rants about his old school.
  • Omer tells a story about his old teacher.
  • Blake talks about Ni No Kuni (Spoiler Alert)
  • We talk about good vs evil.
  • We talk about Google blocking child porn.
  • Omer sets us off on a rant on Facebook.
  • We go on a rant about Internet fame, the death of the high street...all sorts.
  • We talk about how cheap the modern world has made us feel.

Starring: Rob Wade, Omer Ibrahim, Blake Harmer, Brad Harmer.

Let us know what you think of the video in the comments below (either here or on the video) and keep it tuned to E14's Youtube page for more from our flagship podcast, The Crazy Train!

Thursday 7 May 2015

Crazy Train Appreciation Month - Episode 7!

On this episode:

  • We're trying something new - our pizza is coming and we're podcasting in the meantime!
  • Omer doesn't have a train fact (sort of).
  • Rob tells a story about a weird acting lawsuit.
  • Rob tells the story about being "The man behind the Fire Train"
  • Omer tells a story about travelling on a train where the announcer glitched.
  • Blake tells a story about his favourite theme park moment.
  • Omer tells a story about the most epic road trip he's ever taken (musically)
  • We talk about partially chewed chicken.
  • We talk paint.
  • Blake talks about his house, and the dog-ravaged bits.
  • We talk about the worst injuries we ever received.

Starring: Rob Wade, Omer Ibrahim, Blake Harmer

Let us know what you think of the video in the comments below (either here or on the video) and keep it tuned to E14's Youtube page for more from our flagship podcast, The Crazy Train!

Wednesday 6 May 2015

Crazy Train Appreciation Month - Episode 6!

On this episode:

  • Omer has another train fact for yo' asses.
  • Rob rants about Sweeps festival, specifically:
  • A bloke dressed like Captain Jack Sparrow.
  • People forgetting how movement works.
  • Halloween costumes.
  • Ninjas.
  • Omer interjects to tell a story about his friend, The Porn Collector. Dessert kebabs and the Giggling Pig.
  • Omer tells a story about getting into tabletop wargaming.
  • We have fun with the Muppets Swedish Chef voice.
  • Rob tells of his purge.
  • We talk about wrestling T-shirts.
  • We talk about mothers putting their foot in it unintentionally.
  • Omer tells a wrestling story.
  • Rob tells a story about games he invented at Sweeps.
  • Omer shares a sad fact about rhinos.
  • Omer tells a story about the time his dad dropped his name.
  • We call out rhino keepers on their racism.
  • Blake ends the show on a pause.

Starring: Rob Wade, Blake Harmer, Omer Ibrahim

Let us know what you think of the video in the comments below (either here or on the video) and keep it tuned to E14's Youtube page for more from our flagship podcast, The Crazy Train!

Tuesday 5 May 2015

Crazy Train Appreciation Month - Episode 5!

In this episode:

  • We explain our slight hiatus.
  • Rob tells a weird couch-surfing story.
  • Rob tells of his £670,000 business ideas (both awful).
  • Rob tells a story of a wedding he recently attended.
  • We discuss our purchases pre-show.
  • Omer tells a story about how waster men attract stunning women (Spoilers: They don't)
  • Blake talks about the game he's currently playing.
  • Rob talks about being the worst assassin ever (Dishonored related)
  • Omer talks of a gripe he has about certain actors.
  • Rob tells of seeing the Trash Wizard again.
  • We discuss a running gag that occurred pre-recording.
  • Rob tells of drunken idiocy on his birthday.
  • Rob tells the story of the other two out of the top 3 most drunk he's ever been.
  • Rob tells a story about a square woman he saw.
  • We enthuse about how cool LEGO is.
  • Omer tells a story about buying a legless Legatus.

Starring: Rob Wade, Blake Harmer, Omer Ibrahim

Let us know what you think of the video in the comments below (either here or on the video) and keep it tuned to E14's Youtube page for more from our flagship podcast, The Crazy Train!

Monday 4 May 2015

Crazy Train Appreciation Month - Episode 4!

On this episode:

  • Brad is missing.
  • Omer gets thrown by a weird use of a carrier bag.
  • Rob tells his story of an EDL march (maybe).
  • Rob tells the story of how he was told off for "English Ignorance" and the irony of it.
  • Omer rants about dogs and perceptions of dogs.
  • We talk about racism (a running theme on The Crazy Train).
  • Rob has a rant about a particular phrase that irks him.
  • Rob tells a story about a strange dream he had involving the world's worst pickpocket.
  • Rob describes Blake's morbid approach to Urban Trial Freestyle, and the cast discuss a couple of things that don't make sense in games (including Rob gushing about Binary Domain).
  • The cast discusses a football racism story with a more palatable ending.

Starring: Rob Wade, Blake Harmer, Omer Ibrahim

Let us know what you think of the video in the comments below (either here or on the video) and keep it tuned to E14's Youtube page for more from our flagship podcast, The Crazy Train!

Sunday 3 May 2015

Crazy Train Appreciation Month - Episode 3!

In this episode of The Crazy Train:

  • Brad is off skydiving.
  • Rob shares some first impressions of the first few episodes.
  • Omer shares the contents of his bag of party.
  • We reinvent penicillin.
  • We talk sofas and other assorted household gubbins.
  • W have jolly good fun LARPing Prime Minister's Questions.
  • Rob sees a public furniture sex act.
  • Rob encounters a random bellend off his road.
  • Omer talks about his fool-proof way of avoiding fights.
  • Omer becomes Guardian of the Plug (It's as exciting as it sounds).
  • Rob shares a story about his last girlfriend.
  • Rob shares a story about the world's worst homeless sales pitch.
  • Rob meets the Junk Wizard.
  • Omer tells a story about being a ring announcer.
  • Rob transitions effortlessly from a story about uni, via car crashes, back to the Junk Wizard (Henceforth renamed "The Trash Wizard", as he spent the time trashing Rob).

Starring: Rob Wade, Omer Ibrahim, Blake Harmer

Let us know what you think of the video in the comments below (either here or on the video) and keep it tuned to E14's Youtube page for more from our flagship podcast, The Crazy Train!

Saturday 2 May 2015

Crazy Train Appreciation Month - Episode 2!

Here, for your listening pleasure, is the second full episode of The Crazy Train. In this episode:

  • Brad finally gets his coffee.
  • Brad discusses his autobiography.
  • The crew discuss an adaptation of "The Diary of Anne Frank" that everyone can relate to.
  • Rob pitches "RoboRaptor: The Musical."
  • Brad shares his frustrations with Jetpack Joyride.
  • The crew talk about videogame character motivations, including Brad's story of Bogworld.
  • Omer tells a great customer story - This week, Jim McBike/Migraine Steve comes in.
  • Rob shares a customer story from the olden days.
  • There's yet more discussion about Rob's dick.
  • We talk Trains and Osbornes.
  • The crew talk about which celebrities they'd have sex with (and whether they'd tell anyone).
  • The conversation naturally goes to "Which videogame characters would you have sex with?"
  • Brad establishes dominance on the thread.
  • Rob's virginity grows back.
  • Omer delves into jokey racism (with some disclaimers from the rest of the crew).
  • Omer tells a pro wrestling story (brace yourselves, there are a few good ones of those).
  • The crew clue Rob in on the changes in the world of dating.
  • Omer tells a story about facing up porn on shop shelves.
  • Rob talks about his current favourite shows: Supersize vs SuperSkinny (with Brad's Boglin nads), and Take Me Out (With an Omer wrestling story, and Brad breaks himself).
  • Then there's some general talk. Hilarious!

Starring: Rob Wade, Brad Harmer, Blake Harmer, Omer Ibrahim

Let us know what you think of the video in the comments below (either here or on the video) and keep it tuned to E14's Youtube page for more from our flagship podcast, The Crazy Train!

Friday 1 May 2015

Crazy Train Appreciation Month - Episode 1!

On the debut episode of The Crazy Train:

  • Chaos reigns as we discuss our thoughts on trains (and craziness).
  • Omer invokes the wrath of Kylie Minogue's handler (We'd say handlers, but context is key).
  • Omer talks about stuff he did to a dog.
  • Rob outs Neil Buchanan as a partial fraud.
  • We share our Valentine's Day stories.
  • We mock Omer's disdain for football/footballers.
  • The others just won't shut up about Rob's penis.
  • Rob talks about his encounter with a Dutch/Swedish drunk in Subway.
  • Rob brings up a debate from the pub the previous night.
  • Brad talks about his experience at the chess tournament.
  • Omer talks about messing with the Yu-Gi-Oh players in his college.
  • Omer plugs his business, Sheppey Cycles.
  • We share our college stories.

Starring: Rob Wade, Omer Ibrahim, Blake Harmer, Brad Harmer

Let us know what you think of the video in the comments below (either here or on the video) and keep it tuned to E14's Youtube page for more from our flagship podcast, The Crazy Train!

Thursday 30 April 2015

A Note From The Editor

I've been in somewhat of a reflective mood recently, so I thought I'd talk a little about it. First, a bit of history for you.

In August 2012, I returned to Kent after a spell of around 2 1/2 years in Brighton. To say that it was a total disaster would be a disservice to the fantastic friends I made while I was there, and the times I did enjoy; however, I'd be lying if I said that the experience as a whole was something on which I looked back favourably. After a combination of some choices that led to learning experiences, combined with some poor luck and timing, I returned worse off financially among other things; my health was worse (although I had started to make strides towards fixing this already) and in short I was on somewhat of a massive downer.

I was welcomed back to the fold by my family and friends with a significant amount of enthusiasm, and I decided that it was at this point in my life that I would make positive strides towards fixing my lot. A new job was entered into (which to this day is still going swimmingly), and I resolved to lose some weight and become generally a more well-adjusted human being. There were a number of elements to this, which are frankly boring to go into for anyone but me (and also not the reason I started writing this). One in there was simple: I would do something with E14. What's more, I would do something new with it.

Six months later, I put up a post entitled The inevitable and low-key return of E14 where I detailed some of the changes that would be made. Aside from a mention of some new contributors (The excellent Sour Crouch and Spike Direction), the key tenet of this post was a simple philosophy: Less is more. There would be fewer reviews, and more of a laissez-faire approach to writing. However, that was not all that was new.

It was also on this day that I announced the Crazy Train podcast.

To say that it is one of the most enjoyable things I have ever been a part of is an understatement. The podcast has been one of my favourite creative endeavours in my entire life, and so much have I enjoyed it that I have continued to push as best I can to having as many recording sessions as possible (Hey, turns out real adult lives leave precious little time for funsies, who'd have thought?) and even launched a second show in 2014 specifically around video games. While the early recording frequency hasn't been where I'd have liked, for the reasons highlighted above, the initial response to the Gamecast has been even more positive than the initial response to the Crazy Train. That's saying quite a bit, I can assure you.

Two years after starting the podcasts, we have recorded 30 Crazy Trains and 6 Gamecasts. That amounts to (roughly) an average of one new show every three weeks. In my mind, that's not quite as often as I'd like, but it is always important to make the best of what you can do. Besides that, I feel that the quality of the shows themselves more than make up for it, especially considering that they're free!

So if you've got this far, you might be wondering "Wait, is this Rob winding down the podcasts and E14?" The answer is simple: No. We've got no intention of stopping doing any of this stuff anytime soon; the laissez-faire approach has relaxed the schedule considerably, which seems to have had a nice effect on all concerned, and we still have 5 years of great content that you can peruse at your leisure if you run out of podcasts and the newer written stuff.

This begs the question, of course: "Wait, if it's *not* goodbye, what is Rob taking the time to write this for?"

The answer is simple. This post is designed to say one thing.

Thank you.

Whether you're aware of it or not, you've helped. Whether it's a read of a post, a download of a podcast, a question to the mailbag or just general praise or delight that E14 is still around for your entertainment pleasure, you have contributed to the recovery of sanity that I've been beavering away at in the background. E14, and in particular the Crazy Train podcast, have been a tremendous source of entertainment for me as well, and if I've given you 10% of the enjoyment from it that I've gained from recording and publishing it, I'll feel pretty bloody good.

In celebration of two years of podcasts, I have deemed May to be E14 Crazy Train Appreciation Month and I am pleased to announce that this month I will be providing you, the fine E14 fans, with another way to get your Crazy Train fix. Starting tomorrow, on the 1st of May, I will be publishing every single Crazy Train and Gamecast to Youtube over the course of the month. I'm also pleased to announce that from Episode 31 onwards, they will go live on Youtube at the same time as on iTunes and through the usual feed. Enjoy!

So to summarise, everything is business as usual at E14. This is just my way of saying Thanks. Being able to entertain the world through podcasting has been just one element of an outstanding two year period for me personally, and I hope you've enjoyed the ride so far. It's not over yet.

Craazyy!

Friday 13 March 2015

E14 Presents: The Crazy Train! Episode 30 - "Prawnstitutes!"

On iTunes
Listen
The Crazy Train Page on E14

Visiting a closed theme park? Sex stories? Unusual sources of excitement? The Crazy Train is in town!

Starring: Blake Harmer, Omer Ibrahim, Spike Direction, Rob Wade
Main site: Http://www.emotionally14.com
Facebook: Http://www.facebook.com/emotionally14
Twitter: @emotionally14
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/emotionally14

Friday 20 February 2015

E14 Reflects: Brad's Top 5 Movies of 2014

Here at E14, 2014 was a year to remember. We launched a second podcast (which you can find here), The Crazy Train went from strength to strength creatively and we even managed to put something on our Youtube page!

It was thus with a sense of nostalgia that Rob asked the rest of Team E14 to take a look back into the year just passed, and think about the media we experienced that stood out (for good reasons or bad). Here, then, is our first foray back into the previous 12 months. Today, Brad tells us his favourite movies from 2014. Enjoy, and look forward to more from the team soon!


Brad’s Top 5 movies of 2014

Here’s the list of my top 5 movies that I saw in 2014. To clarify, this means that I watched them for the first time in 2014, not necessarily that they were released in that year.

5: Godzilla: Final Wars

(Ryûhei Kitamura, Japan/Australia/China, 2004)

Don’t ask me how it took me so long to get around to this one, because, frankly, I don’t know. Aliens invade, and turn all of the kaiju against humanity, and so they go and wake up the biggest of all the kaiju – Godzilla. After that, there was every monster I’d ever loved as a kid engaged in one massive rumble. Gigan, Ghidorah, Rodan, Mothra…they’re all here. And there’s even an exceptionally satisfying showdown between Godzilla and Zilla.


4: A Field in England

(Ben Wheatley, UK, 2013)

Having loved Ben Wheatley’s previous release, the superb black comedy Sightseers, I was expecting A Field in England to be similar in tone, but I was way off. What you get is a bizarre mish-mash of historical fiction, Hammer-style horror, drug-infused psychedelia, and a continuous heart-stopping tension. The cast is superb, and while I was always a fan of Reece Shearsmith, this gave me a whole new respect for him as an actor. Some genuinely terrifying moments, too, mostly from the all too human monsters in the field.


3: Good Morning, Vietnam

(Barry Levinson, US, 1987)

I don’t know how it took me this long to get around to seeing this, but I’m glad I did in the end, catching it just three months before Williams’ tragic death. The story starts as a “rebel against the system” story, as Cronauer (Williams) acts out and acts up against his superior (Bruno Kirby), but as the film progresses it turns out that Cronauer is much more than that. To the troops in the front line, he is a vital part of what keeps them going, keeping their spirits up in a tough time. It’s a comedy, a love story, a war movie…it’s a bit of everything.


2: Four Lions

(Chris Morris, UK/France, 2010)

Again, I don’t really know why it took me so long to catch this. This follows the story of four buddies – all British Jihadists – and their attempts to be taken seriously by Al-Qaeda. A brilliant hybrid of farce, political commentary, character comedy and batshit insanity that could only come from Chris Morris and Jesse Armstrong. Hilarious, yet sometimes painfully poignant, from start to finish.


1: Guardians of the Galaxy

(James Gunn, US/UK, 2014)

In terms of movies that were pure fun, nothing topped Guardians of the Galaxy for me this year. With the Marvel movies taking themselves increasingly seriously since Iron Man 2/Captain America: The First Avenger, this felt like a really nice throwback to the fun, explosions and silliness of the first Iron Man movie. A great ensemble cast, some great comedy, brilliant action sequences – and some fun nods for fans of the comics – this has everything you could want from a Marvel movie. Here’s hoping Avengers: Age of Ultron will continue the trend.