Dido Interviews:

Here is an interview with Dido, notice that it's divided into 3 different videos. Enjoy:
Part 1



Part 2



Part 3

5 Days Left:

There are only 5 days left until The Sims 3 is released to the U.A.E, France, Switzerland & to the rest of the Middle East but the sad thing is that it will be released to the U.S in 2 days and that really sucks. I also heard that it will be released in 6 -8 days to the rest of the world including Europe. Other than that, I am trying to keep myself busy by going on The Sims 2 Forums (where they talk about The Sims 3) and who could forget The Sims 3's official website :P

If you notice that on The Sims 2 forums, the Maxoids (aka the mods) are not there anymore. The reason is unknown, but from what I've heard is that they have all moved to The Sims 3's official website and they now call themselves the Sim Gurus (it's more like the love guru :P)

The Sims 3 Gets An Article Written On Time Magazine:

There was an article relating to The Sims 3 found on Time Magazine and Time Magazine quoted that this is one of the most interesting games ever. I posted the article down below :

"There's a professor at Oxford University who makes a compelling argument that if humans survive long enough to create conscious computers, it's likely that all of us, right now, are simply historical simulations the computers created for their amusement. After playing with The Sims 3 — the latest sequel in the mega-popular Sims franchise — I believe that prof. Ich bin ein Sim.

The game, in which you create a character and interact with artificial intelligences in a simulated world, has sold more than 100 million copies since its debut in 2000. It's the best-selling PC game of all time. That's a tough act to sustain, but Sims 3, remarkably, blows past its ancestors in every way.

The new game, four years in the making, is set in beautiful Sunset Valley, a town that has 67 simulated human residents. They are fascinatingly complex and have lives of their own; you can follow them around or spy on them in their homes. All the residents age at the same rate as your character (a rate you can change to speed up the game). You can fall in love with the girl next door and marry her 10 years later. In previous versions, characters' ages were frozen in time unless you were interacting with them.When creating your character, you get to pick from 70 traits, including "easily impressed" and "kleptomaniac," to add some depth to your Sim's personality. There's a cool new function that lets you make movies online. And moving around is more seamless in this version. Walk your character from your home to a neighbor's and go inside — the computer can now process it all without interruption. Pick a job, make money, buy things. The Sims 3 even lets you pick a lifetime goal, say, of leading an evil empire.

There isn't any winning in the Sims. The game ends when your character dies. But that's kind of the point: the Sims' allure has always been that if things don't work out in this life, you can start over. Now I'm starting to weird myself out thinking that we are real Sims playing fake Sims" 

You can simply go on the link to read it here, either way it's up to you :)

The Sims 3: Official 2nd Trailer

The Sims 3: Walkthrough

There is about 5 days left until The Sims 3 is released here in the U.A.E. but there are only 3 days left until it's released in the U.S, anyway it doesn't matter. I thought I would update this blog of mine and make it ready for The Sims 3 starting with a few changes:

• The video bar that was showing videos of Dido has been replaced with videos of The Sims 3.
• The countdown has The Sims 3 Sign :P
• There will be a few more posts about The Sims 3 for the next 2 weeks. The continuation of my story called "The Getaway: The Trip" will however be posted next week and then following that week will be the another continuation.
• Some Information about The Sims 3 will be posted on Wednesday the 3rd of June 2009.
• Then starting from the 5th of June, there will be no updates until the middle of the week and that's when I'll continue blogging about new things.
• There will also be many videos about The Sims 3 posted throughout the week.

Here is a video about The Sims 3 Walkthrough :

Things Around Here Are Heating Up:

Have you seen the weather report these days? The current weather in the U.A.E. is about 50 Degrees Celcius (which is around 122 Degrees in Farenheight). This is not good, I'm telling you the weather here is too hot. Hmm I wonder when will this hot weather cool down? It's too hot, but the good thing is that it's not that humid. Since there was a drop in the humidity level for the past few days :S

They say a picture can tell a thousand words :)

but it's still too hot!!!!!!!!!!!

The Getaway: Being a Winner

It's Thursday Afternoon and I am feeling so tired after a long day at work. So I reach reach home around 3 in the afternoon and I am feeling hungry and tired after being gone for a long time. I come home and I open the fridge seeing that there is only a piece of bread just sitting there from God knows when and some leftover Chinese food from last Tuesday. Ugh, even the fridge has a disgusting smell. You know that rancid smell of rotting food just makes you feel nauseated. Well anyway, so I am now sitting down and I just start deciding which fast food place should I go to, was it KFC? McDonald's(I'm hating it)?Burger King(also known as Mayonnaise King)? So I asked myself which of these sounded great and then I came up with the idea that I would go to KFC and end it already. I got into the car and I headed straight for KFC. Now in order for me to get there I have to sit through all this traffic again. 45 minutes later I reach there and I get out to go and park the car but isn't that unfortunate, there is no parking left. I might as well park it behind the KFC and I did :) which then lead me into parking in a No Parking Zone. Could my day get any worse? that's a retorical question, of course it can. It's about a billion degrees outside not forgetting it's also extremely humid. There are many things why this I'm having a bad day. Sometimes I wish I could have a good day.

So I go into the KFC and something unexpected happens to me. I go in to order some food and by the time I finish ordering my food, the waitress gives me this scratch & win coupon. If I scratch this scratch & win coupon and I get 3 stars then I would win a fantastic getaway for an entire week to Palm Beach (and thats where the rich and famous people live other than Beverly Hills) and stay at the New Hilton Hotel and you get a new car. The second prize is 30,000$ & a solid gold Rolex wrist watch and I wouldn't mind winning that (who wouldn't?!) and the last prize is a 500$ gift voucher to shop at the mall (nah that doesn't really get my attention). Before I scratch the coupon, I pray and I wish to win something good and I hope to win the first prize) or even the second prize.

Here I go to scratch the coupon, I scratch the first part of the coupon and I get one star, then I slowly scratch the second part of the coupon and I slowly scratch the final part and it's A STAR. 

Suddenly the KFC Waitress looks at my coupon and she starts cheering with joy and then the other waiter presses this button where confetti starts falling from the ceiling and then the balloons follow the confetti as well. After that the manager of KFC comes up to me and says "Sir, congratulations on winning the First prize". So here I am standing there looking and feeling happy and then the Manager comes up to me and gives me 3 tickets and he said that there tickets are for you. One ticket is for you and you can take 2 more people to go with you. And the manager also quoted "you don't have much time, because your flight to Palm Beach leaves in 48 hours". So I have to hurry up and pack up and then get on the plane with the two people I have picked. The two people are............To be continued.

Next week Find out which two people were chosen to go on this luxorious getaway!!!!

Are You Ready?

This Picture was taken from Snooty Sims

Nowadays time is slowing down because of the long wait for The Sims 3 release. Today I was at Virgin Megastore down in the Mercato and I see that the staff members over there are getting ready for the shipment of The Sims 3. If you ever go there you will see a neat stacked up pile of The Sims 3 Introduction CDs now available for sale and there are many empty green boxeswith the Sims Plumbob shining and it's written "Are you ready for The Sims 3? Well Look No Further, The Sims 3 will be out on June 4 2009 :D ". Other than the Virgin Megastore at the Mercato, the Virgin down in Mall Of The Emirates has a big huge poster of The Sims 3 saying "The Sims 3 coming out on June 4 2009, Pre Order Now And Receive FREE Gifts" and the Plasma Screen TV's down there have advertisments of The Sims 3 that shows every 5 minutes :D

Yay, The Sims 3 is no.1 in Retro's World :D :D :D :D

Travelling Season:

Now everyone knows that June is right around the corner and you know what that means right? It means that it's time to pack up your bags and get ready to travel for your summer vacation. I know some of you might finish your exams by the beginning of May or the end of May or sometime on June, well after a long hard year at work or school/college/university or whatever you were doing. It's just time to go for a nice vacation to another country (or your home country). There are many places to discover around the world such as Asia (includes Japan & China and Malaysia), the Artic (hello, North Pole, South Pole, Iceland), The Caribbean (Trinidad & Tobago, Barbados, Turks and Caicos). Then you have Europe, Africa, Arabia & the U.S.

There will be more posts about travelling on the June, this is just a short post about travelling :)

The U.A.E's First Case of Swine Flu:

Everyone is advised to stay away from Miss Piggy due to the outbreak of the Swine Flu

News reports say that the swince flu (H1N1 Virus) has spread through out the world affecting many people and places. The following places have been infected with this serious disease:

• Mexico (the place where it all began)
• New York City (they had to close down many schools and they had to quarantine many areas)
• Texas
• The U.K (even in all the airports people are starting to wear masks)
• China (this sounds like such a cliche that they would get it and in the end they did)
• Japan 
• France (Sacre Bleu!)
• Spain (Que?!)
• Italy (Mama Mia, how did that happen?)
• Kuwait (Dubai's next door neighbors)
• Bahrain
• Germany (oh man that sucks)
• Israel (stupid Jews, thats what you get for being a stupid Jew)
• Peru
• Costa Rica 
• New Zealand (that's it I'm not buying anymore steaks from Spinneys. Most of their steaks are from New Zealand)
• Ireland (oh no, one of my friends is half Irish :O and my cousin is over there!!!!!!)
• South Korea 
• Canada 
• Austrailia (just like my mother's friend who I gave her a nickname "Pig", you see now Austrailia is infected just because of her)
• The U.A.E.

All of these places and many more to come but could you believe that Dubai has actually confirmed the first case of the swine flu virus (H1N1). This is really tragic but not many people seem to care about it. I guess once everyone has got a chance to read the front page of the Gulf News then they will understand what has happened. And yes Dubai has revealed the first case of the swince flu virus. You can read more about it over here for more informaton. Check out Gulf News for all the details as well as Yahoo.

My New Replacement Mall:

Out of all the malls Except for Mercato, I would have to say that Dubai Mall is one of the best malls in town. Many people would say that Mall Of The Emirates is better. Hah, Mall of The Emirates is one of the most boring malls that I have ever been to in Dubai. Now what does Dubai Mall have to offer everyone?

Dubai mall has so many great stores available so that everyone can shop till they drop. It goes for both guys and girls. For guys we can buy things like clothes, video games, movies and hey check out the new Sega Republic which is opening on September. So for all you gamers out there, Dubai Mall is the place to be. As for the girls, well there's clothes, cosmetics stores and many other things. One of my friends told me that Bloomingdale's is opening soon but I don't have anything to say about that. Now for the children, there are also many stores for them to buy things such as clothes and Hamely's Toy store. Hamely's Toy store is one of London's greatest and most finest toy stores ever. It even beats Toys R Us.

Dubai Mall also has a great food court which is always crowded due to all the great places they have to eat. They have almost every type of food in the world and this goes from American to British to Greek to Asian to Mexican to Italian to Arabian. Also this mall is the only place in the UAE to have Taco Bell and get this it's all Halal :D :D :D

As for desert that's another story, they have lots of places for all us chocoholics like for example they have about 4 Chocolate Bars - no, not as in alcohol just millions of types of chocolates. Then they have 2 ice cream shops (which is perfect to have during the hot summer season) and they have some candy kiosks :-)

Now for the Caffeine-Addicts. Who loves coffee? Well Dubai Mall also has over 30 coffee shops ever which is good for everyone except for kids.

finally lets talk about technology. Dubai Mall has a long list of stores to get the latest technology and it also includes places for mobile phones ^__^ and of course Etislut & Du has some outlets there :P

There is also one of the biggest Aquarium is available. This aquarium is 3 stories high and it has over 33,000 species of marine-life in it and to top it off, there is also a discovery center where they have many other types of animals such as Piranhas & even Penguins. So what are you waiting for. Go and check out this mall. Retrotrut's Mall Rating is 10/10

TS3 Talk:

On Facebook The Sims 3 group wants all their fans to do something with the Plumbob (the green diamond thing), so as a fan I have decided that I will make Dido have a plumbob sign on top of her head. Hey she now looks like a sim :P

By The Way (BTW) I would like to inform everyone that The Sims 3 will be releasing on the 4Th of June across the U.A.E. and not on the 2nd of June. However some stores are releasing it earlier and some are releasing it a day later. Also I would like to mention that this game is NOT an expansion pack to The Sims 2, it's a completely different game. You can find out more information on Google as well as many Sims Sites :)

IGN News:

Retro's Daily Error Messages

So can you spot what's wrong with my desktop? Have a look at that pop-up. I circled it by Paint. Imagine this I turn on my pc and look at what surprises me when Kasperky is switched on:

..........Blah blah blah there is no virus scanner enabled click here to enable it................ and this is when Kaspersky is running once the PC is on. Is this a virus? no What is it? I don't know.

Also you should check out my flash player it ALWAYS slows down once the PC is switched on. I wish I could show you the cover of my pc because it's written "TOSS me out the window" :P

This is not right but there is always an alternative PC. Say hello to my new Laptop :D I will post about it after a short period of time!

s

The Sims 3 TV Spot:

For the next couple of weeks I will be adding some information about The Sims 3. I posted a video down below and I thought you would like to know that the video is a Sims 3 Advertisment.s For more updates please check out Snooty Sims & Infinite Sims & Edenstyle

Let There Be Sims:

Virgin Megastore in Dubai announces the release of The Sims 3. It is said that the game will be released on the 4th of June 2009. Now I am really surprised with Virgin. About 2 weeks ago I went to Virgin Megastore in the Mall Of The Emirates and I asked one of the staff members and believe it or not this is what happened:

Me: Excuse me sir, do you have any idea when The Sims 3 will be released?

Virgin Megastore Staff member: The Sims 3?!

Me: Yes, do you know when it will be released?

Virgin Megastore Staff member: I'm sorry sir, but we NEVER heard of the game. We have The Sims 2 in stock. Would you like to see it?

Me: No thanks!

So I left the store. but now finally Virgin realized that they should release it. I think they were forced to release it because I guess they many people heard me blab about how one guy from the UAE is a creator of the game and I'm guessing that they felt bad because ALL the stores knew about it except them. LOL

Anyway about the game. If you go to Virgin Megastore now, you can see that it's available for pre-ordering now. So if you preorder it, you will receive a few gifts with the game. So what are you waiting for. Go and preorder it QUICK!!!!

My 500th Post

I would like to thank some people for helping me reach this far. Without them I would have never discovered blogging. The following people I would like to thank:

• XTR
• Mario
• My parents
• My 2 brothers
• XTr's Bro

and everyone else Thanks for supporting my blog :D

Now lets get the refreshments out and the music playing. The Dj is now taking requests everyone :D

Retro's Birthday:

I am so happy today because it's my birthday. Today is the day I turn 19 years old. Time passes by so quickly :S well since I'm finally 19 years old I posted a music video down below. It's a remix that represents my Birthday. Lets just PPPPPPAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRTTTTTTTTTTYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!
The music is playing, the refreshments are laid out on the table, everyone is dancing on the dance floor and we're all dancing to the groove :-)

Dido Galore:

Here are some videos until I post my 500th Post! Enjoy!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Dido - AOL Sessions: Life For Rent



Dido - AOL Sessions: White Flag



Dido - AOL Sessions: Thank You



Dido - AOL Sessions: Marys In India

We All Scream For Cake:

There is around 10 days left until my birthday, so I thought I would post a birthday update. Keep on a lookout for my birthday which is going to occur on the 21st of May 2009 and then on August 30th 2009 is XTR's birthday. So be prepared for a couple of updates!

Dido Answers Your Questions:

I watched that Northern Skies live video in your website and you were playing guitar on it (I think it was the same one you played at the "live at the Brixton Academy" dvd). I loved the sound of the instrument (it's absolutely beautiful) and I'd like to know what kind of guitar was that, because I'm thinking of buying one for me.

Dido replies: It’s a Gibson J200. I absolutely love it. It’s quite a big guitar but I just get lost in it and I write tons on it.

"..No more trips to Grafton Street, No More going there to see you lying still while we all come and go..." Dido - Grafton Street

I'm curious about which track of yours is the most personal, or which track means the most to you?

Dido replies: Probably Grafton Street.

Good Morning Dubai!

When writing songs at what time of the day are you most creative?

Dido replies: First thing in the morning or after a bottle of wine.




What do you feel and think when you hear other people singing your songs? Do they add anything different to the meaning of the original song?

Dido replies: I love it. I get to hear the song in a whole new light.

"..Who Makes You Feel Like I Make You Feel..."

Happy Mothers Day:

Here is an extra picture that I forgot to add ;)

Happy Mothers Day:

Since today is mothers day I just thought I would like to wish everyone a Happy Mothers Day!

The Sims 3: Another Neighborhood Revealed

The following has been taken from The Sims 2 BBS Forums and it's quoted by Maxoid Drea:

"Hi everyone,

Its seems many of you have questions about the new town named Riverview that will be available on June 2nd. To clarify, Riverview is a free downloadable town that will be offered through The Sims 3 Store. This town will let you add even more Lots, Stories, and Sims into your game. Riverview is a whole separate town from Sunset Valley, set on an idyllic country side. It's dotted with farms and nestled by a winding river. This sleepy little town comes with an entirely new set of inhabitants with secrets for your Sims to uncover! Riverview is offered to game registered players on www.TheSims3.com. Players can play the game offline once they've downloaded the town.

Hopes this helps to clarify your questions.

-Drea"

Sizzling Hot Weather:

As the weather continues to get warmer by the day, all schools & universities start to close and eventually everyone goes crazy during this amazing hot weather. I also thought that I would change the layout of my blog and even change the color of my blog. In case not many of you have noticed but my blog has been updated like hell. Also I would like to point out that starting in a couple of days I will be posting my 500th post. So expect to see an update on my blog really soon!

Taylor Swift: Love Story Remix

Summer Chat:

I am so happy that it's finally summer vacation. Now that I finally have time for myself I can actually go and do all the things I ever wanted to do this year. Such as:

• Getting my driver's license
• go out with my friends to the mall
• go to the beach
• go swimming
• play video games

and many others. So far I have managed to finish playing Saints Row 2 at last. It took me 6 hours to finally finish that game. What else have I done, oh yeah I also managed to hack The Sims 2 again. Other than that I went for an eye test so that I could apply for my license. The doctor told me that my left eye is 100% ok but my right eye is just a little bad. He said that I don't really have to wear glasses :) which is a good thing right? The good thing is that I'm not even blind Al Hamdulillah for not being blind.

I also managed to go and see my mom's cousins twin daughters the other day. They look so cute in their little pj's ^__^

Now the night is young and it's already 1:46AM and I just watched a movie. I watched Yes Man, Twilight, Titanic & thats about it. 

Well I think that this is enough blogging for one day. I might as well call it a night and go to sleep for a bit and then wake up and go do something in the morning.

Suprised?

Here is my version of Ali Larter. As you can see this image has been photoshopped by yours truely :)

Celebration Tonight:

All my finals have finished at last. So this calls for a celebration. Let's get the music playing and the refreshments are served. Now it's time to PPPPPPPAAAAAAARRRRRRRTTTTTTYYYYY!

WOOHOO! SUMMER VACATION ROCKS!

 

EA Play Video:

The Sims 3: Creator Spotlight

Let's just talk about The Sims 3 for now. Did you know that one of the creators of The Sims 3 is from Dubai. Believe it or not. Just watch the video posted below :

TS3 Talk:

Now there is about less than 30 days left until The Sims 3 is officially released into the stores. From What I had found out is that Geekay Games is the only store in Dubai that is selling the collectors edition of it and ALL the other stores (such as Virgin) will be selling the normal version of The Sims 3.  

The Sims 3: Collectors Edition is to have:

• 2GB FLASH DISK OF THE PLUMBOB
•  EUROPEAN STYLED SPORTS CAR DOWNLOAD
  
•  NEW THEME MUSIC FROM THE SIMS 3
  
•  AN EXCLUSIVE PRIMA TIPS & HINTS GUIDE
• A MAP OF THE SIMS 3 NEIGHBORHOOD
  

What else could we possibly ask for? I am actually impressed with Geekay Games for getting this game for me. Thanks A lot Geekay :)