Category Archives: Luke Botham

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Papa Pear Saga – Is It The New Candy Crush?

A colourful game with a green papa pear wearing a yellow helmet. It is standing on a blue flower with pink petals. There is another one flying the air and one is waving.
A colourful game with a green papa pear wearing a yellow helmet. It is standing on a blue flower with pink petals. There is another one flying the air and one is waving.

The new Candy Crush?

Unless you live in the middle of a deserted forest with no internet, you’re bound to have heard of and probably been captivated by Candy Crush Saga at some point during 2013 (or, if you’re like our very own Emily Normington, you’ll still be playing it…)

But as times change, so do popular apps and the newest one to storm the app stores is Papa Pear Saga.

It is of course produced by King, but works very differently.

The aim of the game is to satisfy the needs of a set of animate paint pots at the bottom of the screen by filling them, you guessed it, with pears! (You probably didn’t guess it, unless you actually have pear loving paint pots in your garage).

Sound easy? Well, it kind of is. You just shoot the pears out of a cannon, destroying all the obstacles blocking the path between you and the buckets, scoring as many points as possible.

Ignoring the fact that shooting a pear out of a real cannon would probably destroy it, that they probably wouldn’t be appealing in to real paint pots in any way and that pears don’t actually wear hard-hats, the concept is pretty fun.

As you progress through the game, you unlock bonuses to make your life that bit easier. A personal highlight is the exploding pomegranates, they’re just so fruity and so dangerous at the same time.

One annoying thing carried over from Candy Crush is that you have to rely on Facebook Friends to give you new lives, so if you don’t have friends, or Facebook, or Facebook friends that play Papa Pear, then you’re going nowhere soon.

But we are enjoying the Spanishness of the title. How exotic, pears are so often associated with Spain, it makes so much sense…

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What To Expect From Stokes Cafe

a photo of Stokes coffee on the High Street in Lincoln. People are walking past.

Sometimes you might just fancy a taste of the high life, and that could be achieved through a visit to a suave coffee shop.

Stokes Cafe is probably one of the most well known in Lincoln.

There’s actually two Stokes cafes in the city, with the larger of the two set in an old Victorian style building beside the Glory Hole. Whilst you’re often as crammed in there as you might have been in a real Victorian house, it’s actually a lovely venue with a variety of drinks and cakes on offer.

This includes some very traditional English Teas, Scones, and Victoria Sponges; all of which are baked to perfection and taste amazing.

With three floors, the higher rooms provide lovely views of Lincoln. They’re also quite cosy. This isn’t just because the tables and booths are *very* close together to the point where you’re basically sat on your neighbours knees, but also because it generally has a very friendly atmosphere and is decorated in a really cute and homely way.

The company also hold a variety of events at their other, less Victorian cafe in The Collection, including a Christmas themed song session which is due to be held on Saturday.

Whilst it’s safe to say they add to the Victorian experiences with prices that could sometimes send your pockets to the workhouse, it’s definitely worth a visit (but if you’re planning on going on the weekend, you should perhaps read our guide on surviving the weekend’s high street crowds.)

Both venues open daily from 8.30 to 5.00, except on Sundays, when they open at 11.30.

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Polar Bear King Review

A photo showing a polar bear eating an apple.

If you like fairy tales, Christmas films and the best graphics ever, then Polar Bear King might be for you.

This is providing you’ve got a good sense of humour and you’re ready for some utter cringe.

It’s basically your typical fairy tale gone wrong. There’s a princess, a king, and a deranged witch (more of cougar in this case), who is determined to make the king’s life hell because he doesn’t want to marry her. But being a bit of a hipster cougar witch, she decides that instead of turning him into the ‘oh so mainstream’ frog, she’ll make him into a polar bear instead.

But if this seems weird, you’ve seen nothing yet.

Whilst the king is from Summer Land, the princess spends day after day in Winter Land (it’s so original it brings tears to our eyes…) dreaming lustfully of finding her prince whilst her dad talks to crows.

Her dreams come true when the king, who’s now a polar bear, randomly turns up when she’s chilling in the snow one day.

Instead of getting scared, she talks to him and instantly falls in love after discovering the truth. You could call it destiny or love at first sight (or bestiality?) Either way, it’s utterly creepy and the plot moves far too fast. A few minutes later, he basically proposes.

Sadly,  she can’t marry him until the cougar’s spell breaks, which apparently takes a very long time…

To quote the synopsis – ‘will they live happily ever after, or will the jealous witch ruin their plans?’

You’ll have to watch this wonderful, Oscar deserving epic to find out!

 

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Lincoln Christmas Lights Switch On – Live Blog

A photo of the christmas lights on Lincoln High Street

Something electrical is afoot.

Lincoln is switching on it’s Christmas Lights tonight for the coming “festive period”.

The “celebrity” in “charge” of the “switch-on” will be actress Sue Hodge.

Sue played Mimi in ‘Allo ‘Allo and she played Mimi in the stage production of ‘Allo ‘Allo. She was also controversially chosen for the role of Mimi in the Return of ‘Allo ‘Allo.

A nice, wide ranging career then.

Anyway, the live blog is here.

 

UPDATE: Sue Hodge actually had another role in a BBC3 sitcom called “The Lads Club”. She played Connie. We can’t seem to find any record of such a show anywhere on the internet, so one could presume that it was not a particular success.