Saturday, March 01, 2008

Portal is really fun Enron, yeah find a copy of that. I dunno if it's worth 20 bucks though.. you think so jon? I guess maybe... I wouldn't really buy the orange box though - rented it. Maybe if your into that half-life 2 stuff I guess.

This is a really cool (real life) skating video: Lord of the Lines. It's all happy and not RAWR AGRO SKATE MONSTERS WOOHOO like a bunch of others I seen. Man, I wish I woulda skated when I was a kid. :( I'm too fucking old now. I'll throw out my hip.

I know what you mean jon about MASH but dude, I'm hearing good things! I think the memory is tainted cuz I've only ever seen it as a little kid and it bothered me then and seemed really boring and strange... Ohh, I'll throw arrested development in the Q - I caught a few episodes a long time ago and liked it. Good call.

| One more thing...

Fuck yo Momma!

Say what?

I liked the HL2 stuff. I mean it wasn't great, but it was fun. I guess I get the urge to play twenty minutes or so of a FPS from time to time. Portal seems cool, but 3-4 hours play time seems sort of weak. Especially since puzzle games tend to have real low replayability. What happened to the days of games lasting 20 hours or more? MMORPGs do not count. 20 hours of *insert repetitive task here* and the required toleration of 15 year old jackovs is not what I would call entertainment. I still go back to Diablo from time to time. Sure it is monotonous as well, but at least I am killing things instead of mining. Sort of a little more satisfactory at the primal level. Although I have to say I have not busted it out in probably 9 months.

I never could get into M*A*S*H. Sometimes I would watch the occasion episode, but it never grabbed me. Oz did seem cool at the time, but I only watched it from time to time when I was other people's house with HBO. I haven't had access to HBO in quite some time.

D>M>

| oh yeah one more thing

FUCK Aerosmith!
Oh yeah, to Enron: I don't especially recommend Orange Box (I don't like the HL2 games that much), but I strongly recommend that you pick up Portal over Steam. I think you can get it for like $15 or $20. It's short but oh so sweet.

| click click click click click click click

I've been playing Diablo II again. What a classic game -- sure the graphics are pretty crappy now, but for a seven-year-old game it's held up amazingly well.

Not sure how excited Aeryk would be about this one (actually, no, I am sure exactly how excited), but they're releasing some pretty good Dead songs for Rock Band soon:

* "China Cat Sunflower" from Aoxomoxoa
* "Casey Jones" from Workingman's Dead
* "Sugar Magnolia" from American Beauty
* "Truckin" from American Beauty
* "Franklin's Tower" from Blues for Allah
* "I Need A Miracle" from Shakedown Street

$1.99 or $10 for all of 'em. I'm amazed at you guys' drum skills. For some reason I've barely touched the drums even though they are really fun. I think since my girlfriend plays them I sorta think of them as her thing. Maybe I should make up some excuse like arrogantly declaring that drums are for chicks or something? I dunno, it's hard to tell when to make up excuses about something sometimes.

Rude, have you seen Arrested Development yet? Definitely put that in your queue if not. Really fucking funny and smart show -- we got hooked and have been blowing through an hour or two or episodes a night. Like most shows, it takes a couple of episodes to find its footing, but once it does, it's awesome. (Don't get me wrong, the first disc is really good too, though.) Hey Aeryk, can you change my avatar to G.O.B.?

Also: M*A*S*H? I dunno man, think you'd be wasting your time on that one. That's an OK show but I don't think there's any way I would ever sit through all 11 seasons or even one. I would like to see the original movie, though.

| nip/tuck? pffft

tv roundup

The Wire: Just started watching the first season. Started out kinda "meh" but it just really clicked a few episodes in. It's quality. Well done. I remember trying to watch some random episode a few years ago and it just made NO sense. You have to watch it in order - but it's SO worth it. At least so far. People say it only gets better so I'm stoked off this one.

Oz: I dunno. I guess it was one of the first (if not THE first) of these cable tv-series kinda shows but it just feels SO dated. It's supposed to pickup after the first season but it just doesn't seem all that "shocking" or gripping. I'll power through season 1 to give it a shot. What's REALLY distracting about it is that it's full of actors who years later turn up in tons of different shows. Law & Order (ton of people), LOST (Mr. Echo and Michael "Waaaaaalt!"), friggen Sopranos (Tony's wife plays a friggen prison guard, what!?) and just a bunch of other recognizable faces. Like the main psychologist they always turn to in Law and Order is the head of the friggen neo-nazis and he's raping dudes but he talks and (kinda) acts JUST like he does as the character on Law & Order! It fucks me up.

The Shield: I was hesitant about trying this one out. Yeah, won tons of awards and gets all kinda rave reviews but the idea just didn't really interest me. Watched the first 4 episodes - it's actually good. The main dude is kind of a ponce (it's friggen "the commish" for crying out loud) and no matter HOW bad and horrible and fucked up he acts, I'm still not "convinced" you know? But it's an interesting show and although it doesn't really have the depth of "the wire" it's still pretty cool.

Naruto: Yeah, I dunno why I throw this in my Q... I think the 360 game looked cool so I wanted to actually watch an episode before renting the game. I know fuck all about anime and all that crap, but it's pretty enjoyable and random. If I was a kid again I'm sure I'd be all over this shit.

Mash: I actually haven't watched this yet (other than parts of random shows on tv since we were little kids.) A good friend got all hooked on this shit and he watched all 11 seasons just totally obsessed. ANd he's like a rocker tatted-up pretty boy. So maybe there IS something to this show that usually looks SO unappealing to me. That fucking theme song. Growing up, that shit came on late at night and usually meant nothing else good was gonna be on tv. Now I'm old, so maybe the anti-war shit will appeal to me. Friend said its really funny and touching.

I didn't watch all these in one night or anything! This is over the last few months. I guess tonight The Wire just totally stuck for me so I decided to share my reviews.

Friday, February 29, 2008

| Rock Band and Me

Yeah, Run to the Hills block is the last of the Hard level. I finished it on hard, and got though I THINK 3 blocks on expert and have hit a wall. I'm just not that good at playing real drums yet, though I am practicing. To give myself the benefit of the doubt, because I am so awesome, I have not played Rock Band in a few weeks seriously, but I have been playing drums for about a half hour a day-ish. Mostly playing to tunes on my iPod, but I think it is still good training.

You should totally come up for Kublacon! Das Hookarz await! This time you should come with an action plan for success with the ladies of the night!

Thursday, February 28, 2008

| Lorst

Anyone watch Lost? This season has been good. If you're caught up through season 3, here's a really cool video recapping the first 3 seasons in 8 minutes:
Lost in 8 minutes
It's funny while actually being a good catch-up.

Got that kubla khan thing in the mail too. Thinking about it. I should go for it. We shall see.

Yeah, Guitar Hero: Aerosmith - saw that. Honestly, why would they think that's a great idea. Yuck.

Rock Band kicks my ass pretty good. Still only doing drums on hard - just got to the set with Run for the Hills and some horrible Police song I'd never heard. I did the mod to quiet the drums pads, works like a charm - only bummer was the circle cutter was $15 bucks and I don't think I'll ever have a use for it again in my life. But the felt and foam rubber sheets were only a buck each so 8 dollars total. And I did them in the proper colors so I got full RYBG pads going. Hasn't noticeably effected bounce or sensistivity and the horrible CLACK CLACK of drumming is WAY better now.
This mod:
DRUM MOD

Don't have my camera now, so this pic stolen from mod page. Mine looks the same although I was a little lazy with cutting my circles so a little jagged/sloppy on mine.
ZING!!!
Oh yeah, Enron, I meant to ask: we playing Warmachine this weekend?

| My life is complete.

The Blood Bowl game has plans to be released on the DS. It's like the developers looked into my brain 15 years ago and realized what a great idea (for me) to put Blood Bowl on a Gameboy!

Also, I am pre-registered for Kubla as of about 3 hours before your post d00d! I am in like Flynn! And I guess since no one is really playing much Warmachine anymore (whoopee!) we will just have to play more Combat Commander, Hannibal, C&C:A, and of course ASLSK.

Rudy and Denis planning on making the sojourn from SoCal?

PS The Space Hulk game is actually a lot of fun. The AI is pretty good, and it has the ever so crack-like addiction inducing feature of a campaign game with ranks and unit bonuses. Also, in a few days I believe they will be releasing a patch for some bugs, gameplay, and I THINK, the Deathwing missions and weapons! Huzzargh!

| The great disappearing Deef returns to the AT site!

eLzar: I must say, most of that Deputy Droopy clip I vaguely remember, except for the tongue part. That was damn funny and I remember that part in particular being a roll around on the floor laughing moment (a true LOL as it were).

Catsup, Ketchup, either way I never had much use for it, women or no.

All you jArks interested in KublaCon 2008 May 23rd-May 26th? jA- eL? Looking for head counts so we can decide on one room or two. As far as I am aware DaveDefeat and Ian are in (Ian reminds me how awesome last year was every time I talk to him). The Pre-Pre-reg ends tomorrow at $35. April 15th $40. May 9th $45. $50 after that. Let me know fuggers.

Week in review:

- Setup my new stereo system over the past few days. Yeah! So much better.
- Started purchasing a few Music DVDs to enjoy said stereo (Concerts for lazy turds like me). Bad Religion: Live at the Palladium was quite good. Besidea the concert footage, the commentary was very cool. Gave a lot of perspective to BR, especially in the grim days of the mid-90s when they seemed to stray so much from their roots and style. Check it out if you have the chance.
- My Mom and Dave (step-father) visited last weekend and I can not remember the last time I was so hedonistic. So much food and drink. Had a great time.
- Got my credit card bill. Ooof. Note to self: too much fun can be sad sometime later.
- Time to really start saving money. No more wasting money. Boo!
- Compacted all my DVDs into a couple of nifty cd/dvd cabinets. So much less of an eye sore.
- Ja _eL, come visit us, and by visit I mean do not sit around in Fremont and wait to the last minute to see us for an hour on the last day of your trip. Do it!
- I keep looking at the Orange Box and saying, "Fifty bucks? No way..." I guess I can no longer justify it any longer since I play video games so infrequently anymore.
- Feverishly reading a book right now. Before they are Hanged, book two of The First Law trilogy. The first book is really good and so far the second book does not disappoint. Amazing books for the first two written by Joe Abercrombie. Book three should be out in April I believe. If you are looking for good adult fantasy (not that kind of adult jArk) then you should check this out.

The IRS blows. First they take my money, and then they tell me they are going to give some of it back despite budget shortfalls. What kind of buffoonery is this? Oh wait, Congress voted for this BS. One goes hand in hand with the other. F'n jackels

D>M>

| I never like girls drinking catsup. It's just strange.

On a totally unrelated note, Red Octane has jumped the shark and no longer can call me a customer due to their upcoming Guitar Hero: Aerosmith Edition.

I would be hard pressed to think of another band I would LESS rather have a shitload of songs to play with on Guitar Hero.

Except for Walk This Way, and maybe Dream On, they are one of the worst bands evar...

E-V-A-R....
Fill in the blanks

Love the way she holds my C... and drinks my C..




http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/02/28/miley-cyrus-drinks-ketchu_n_88898.html


answer key:
atsup bottle. atsup.



One minute Finalized recap Day 5, 6, 7

Ate - notable restaurants: TPK, Kowloon City Restarant,
Sleep - lots and lots
Shop - buying stuff

Overall thoughts: As my trip dwindled to it's final minutes, i felt a little down-trodden, sad, melancholy that i would have to soon see the factory machines, dreary white office walls, bask in flourescent bulbed lights, and be bound to a 10x 10 square desk stacked with papers. I said my last farewells to my friend melanie and gave her a hug before I boarded the 4:50 shuttle destined to the Airport.

I shall return.

Monday, February 25, 2008

| Another Space hulk Game

This time endorsed by EA and GW... interesting, I guess it uses sounds from the old EA title? Anyway, tighter, cleaner and better graphics than the last few freeware SH games, though I have not figured out how to move and shoot yet.

Pretty neat.

www.teardown.se

Sunday, February 24, 2008

| I will refer one Enron to this cartoon

Other Action Team Members mileage may vary.

Deputy Droopy
I forget -- are there 18 or 19 levels in Portal? In any case, the last level is about long as the rest combined so it might work out to be a tetch longer than your guess. It's definitely doable in three - four hours though. The advanced challenges are also fun, and the developer's commentary isn't bad either!

Plus the ending is so satisfying.

That's a really good game -- it actually won several game of the year awards over bigger, fuller experiences like Halo 3 and Bioshock. I think it earned it too. Honestly, there's no reason anybody who's interested in making small games SHOULDN'T play through it.

I'm fired up for them to publish some extra levels for it, but given Valve's plodding release schedule, who knows when that'll be?

I certainly loves me some Rock Band. I got tired of the janky guitar and ended up buying GH3 (which I already owned, for PS2) just to get the guitar. How sad is that? Some of the extra tracks are really good, too. Plus we play co-op a decent amount it's really fun -- definitely the best way to play the game.
There Will Be Blood and No Country for Geezers are on my to-do list although they're barely hanging in theaters - prolly just for oscar shit. I can wait em out.

I actually got the Orange Box from gamefly yesterday so I'm playing Portal for the first time. Fun! On the 18th map, so it's lookin at around a 2.5 hour playthru. All mess with the other games real quick before I turn this in. The lost video game comes out thursday and it's probably gonna be BAD (it's just an adventure game I guess) but I think it'll be worth the rental.

For Rock Band I still find myself doing the guitar stuff more - the drums are HARD and I'll get to that in due time (plus so LOUD goddamn!)

At the movies the previews were SO bad. There was this really long one for a Rolling Stones movie Scorsece (sp!?) is doing. That shit looked HORRIBLE and fuck if that wasn't the worst thing to sit through.

| media

We saw Be Kind, Rewind the other night as well and I agree with your assessment. A lot of it was kinda boring although I thought about half of it was good.

I also saw There Will Be Blood. This is a really strange movie that I think I'd like to see again. For a lot of the duration of the movie I actually wasn't sure if I liked it or not but I enjoyed the crazy ending scenes so much that it justified everything that came before.

Also been working my way through Arrested Development. This is a really good show! We're into season 2 now.

Video game wise, I've been playing Dead Rising. Did you play much of this game, Eric? It's really fun! Mowing down hordes of zombies with chainsaws or knocking them around with hockey sticks is pretty glorious.
I didn't know they're doing BB for XBL, that'll be sweet.

I saw Be Kind, Rewind last night. It's not that great. I really like director Michel Gondry's videos and Eternal Sunshine of the SPotless Mind, but this shit didn't really have that "flair" of his. Some of it was kinda funny, and Jack Black is just a funny guy for the most part, but it was a little boring and totally went the "awww shucks" sweet route. Worth a rental, and some of the movies they "sweded" were kinda funny. Meh, too bad. Good idea, but just didn't quite work.