Matt Aranha

B-Boy Beats

matt — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 07:35:18 +0000

B-Boy Beats is the latest offering from Mobile Pie. Everyone I’ve seen play it seems to end up with a big grin on their face.

The concept of the game is to perform break dancing moves with your fingers in time to the music. We managed to get some really awesome artists to provide the tracks, including Nerdcore hip-hop legends like Optimus Rhyme, Id Obelus and MC Frontalot.

It’s available for iPhones and iPod touches, from the iTunes App Store. It’s currently available to download for the bargain price of £1.79. If you haven’t seen it already, here is a trailer for it. Before you get scared away – that is sped up!

10 Best Lunches in Bristol

matt — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 14:17:38 +0000

When it comes to lunchtime, an apple, crisps and jam sandwich just doesn’t do it for me. In the past I’ve been slightly spoilt by working from home or having facilities to re-heat homemade lunches. Having ventured into the ‘real’ world and without time to prepare stuff at home, I’ve been forced to reassess my lunchtime eating. Working in Bristol is pretty good though, with it’s decent selection of restaurants, cafes, markets and other food places. Over the past few months I’ve tried my best to explore and taste my way through the various eating establishments open at lunchtime. I ended up putting together the my selection of the best lunch places in Bristol into an article on our food blog, What I Ate Today to inspire people into trying something new.

Oh, My Word! Mini

matt — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 16:15:40 +0000

Mobile Pie are currently storming the OSX Dashboard Widget charts with a lightweight version their addictive word puzzle game, Oh, My Word! We’re currently Apple’s featured widget and second in their download chart. If you’ve got a Mac running OSX, you can download Oh, My Word! Mini for free from the Apple site. The OMW! series is available on several platforms including iPhone, Android and Palm.

Matt joins Mobile Pie

matt — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 15:45:46 +0000

After having stuck around in University academia for the best part of a decade, it was finally time to get a proper job. I’ve decided to put the skills I used from the PhD to some use by joining Mobile Pie, a mobile development company specialising in games and entertainment apps. I’ve known these guys for a while and it’s going to be exciting working with them. The image is one side of my new funky business card.

Food Adventures in Normandy part 1

matt — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 11:40:42 +0000

Jenny and I recently went on a trip to Normandy, in the north of France. Like most of our holidays, one of the main things we love to explore is the local cuisine. Despite being so close to home, there was still a huge amount to try which was previous undiscovered. In this first episode we cover the French attitude to bread with their wonderful boulangeries / pâtisseries, the difference between galettes and crepes, and of course some unusual meatage – French black pudding, tripe, andouille and several varieties of French sausage. Stay tuned for part 2!

Swindon Mela 2009

matt — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 14:24:44 +0000

Here are some photos from this years Swindon Mela. I’m slightly disappointed my shots don’t do the fantasic Jaipur Kawa Circus justice. You can see the full programme for the day on the official mela website.

Uganda Cancer Trust

matt — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 18:49:52 +0000

I’ve just finished work on the Uganda Cancer Trust UK website. UCT is a UK based charity raising money to support cancer treatment, education and care in Uganda. More than 60% of cancer deaths occur in developing countries, but only 5% of cancer spending.

Lamb + Spinach Karahi

matt — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 11:57:15 +0000

Like most Brits, I’m a huge fan of curry. I’ll confess when I first headed off to University I didn’t have much of a clue about how to make a decent one. Since then though I’ve experimented and learnt lots and it’s become one of my favourite meals to cook. I had found that most curries tend to follow the same sort of procedure, however I recently came across quite a different technique when Rick Stein visited the Karachi Restaurant and made their delicious Lamb and Spinach Karahi.

Llangennith, Wales

matt — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 12:44:41 +0000

Recently I went on a surfing holiday with friends to The Gower Peninsula. None of us had been surfing before, but we thought we’d give it a go. We went at a lovely time of year, the weather was good enough but it was also early enough to not have many tourists around. We pretty much had the whole of Rhossili Bay to ourselves. We managed to forage a complete meal as posts on our food blog. We also tried some local delicacies including Cockles and Laverbred.

Intro to Brewing Beer

matt — Tue, 26 May 2009 12:09:08 +0000

Jenny and I are both pretty big fans of our real ales. For my birthday a couple of my friends got me a Brubox beer brewing kit. This was our first attempt at making our own beer. The results were pretty pleasing. We ended up taking most of the brew on our surfing trip, with some of it being using to make a lovely foraged meal. You can read the full review of the Brubox kit on What I Ate Today.