Friday, January 02, 2009

| Blu-low me

I made the Blu ray dive about 6 months ago. Yeah the movies are more expensive and the available movies are still pretty limited, but for those movies that really shine in Blu ray, it is totally worth it. Sleeping Beauty is a great example. Disney did an amazing job restoring a 50 year old classic. It also helps that Disney shot this movie with extraordinary high quality film for the 50s.

I find quite a bit of variance in the quality of the Blu ray transfers. Obviously some older films suffer from poor film stock/camera technology and/or degradation of the originals. More important though, is how much effort the film studio goes through to restore and remaster the original. Some recent movie can look like crap if not properly transferred. Issues like compression artifacts from poor compression, grey or uneven blacks, muddled colors, dust/scratches on the masters, halos from over sharpening and blurriness from the scan can really impact the quality of a film. As a result I never buy these blind. I frequent High-def digest and High Def Disc News as a resource to determine if the quality is worth it.

The prices of Blu ray are sort of ridiculous at brick & mortar stores ($25-45/movie). I find Amazon has much more reasonable rates ($16-25/movie), no tax and if your willing to wait, free super saver shipping is often available.

D>M>

Thursday, January 01, 2009

| That sounds fun Rude

My New Year's was really mellow but quite pleasant. The four of us got together at Enron's place and he graciously cooked up some fine steaks. Then we watched Sleeping Beauty on Blu-Ray through his fancy TV. I must say this was pretty impressive looking -- the colors were amazing crisp and vibrant. It was the first thing I've seen that really sold me on hi-def vs. DVD. I'm looking to buy a new TV in the next month or so, I wasn't considering the step up to Blu-Ray but now I definitely am. I would feel sort of weird about buying another console, though....

Thanks Enron! A good time was had by me.

In other updates, I have my epic mount in WoW at last! Happy days are here again.
happy new year. i got all drunk off nyquil and whiskey/ginger-ales and went to bed by like 10pm... *FIREWORKS*

| ???

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Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Tuesday, December 30, 2008

I kinda missed the part about the new combat commander, but yeah that does sound cool. I don't know why, but I have always found that theatre to be much more fascinating. Sign me up for a game!

Enron! Paint your Cryx!

| Nerd Planet

My brother had made mentions of Nerd Planet closing. He asked if I wanted to go and I just told him I didn't have time. The truth of the matter was, that I just couldn't get myself to go in the place. I just would have been too bummed out to enjoy a fire sale. It's never fun to see the local gaming store go under.

Yeah my Xmas was exhausting too. In fact I got a stomach bug on Friday that knocked me out of commission for nearly the entire day. On the upside I also received the gift of 12+1 months of Xbox Live Gold. I am still short one Left 4 Bread game though.

eLzar: KK: Pacific sounds sweet. We'll have to bust some of that action out next time we're gaming.

I still have a heard time watching Tom Cruise in a movie. The entire time I keep thinking to myself, every dollar I pay to watch his movies, something like $0.10 will end up in Scientology hands. And even though a movie ticket is only $10.00, that's $1.00 into the L Ron Sex machine. That's just too much nautical sex for me to bear.

D>M>

Monday, December 29, 2008

I'm back home, thank God. Being home for Christmas is exhausting. I'm really glad that I have the rest of the week off before going back to work!

My main achievements over Christmas Break so far:
- My main in WoW is halfway to 65. Second I hit 68 I'm jetting off to the new continent. Whee!
- In related news, I almost have enough to afford my fancy epic mount, so will be able to travel even faster to places to hit: 2-3-4-shift+2-2-shift+1-6 over and over!
- I have enough money for a new TV now, so I can get a nice 32" or something to replace the loud, high-pitch emitting, heavy CRT that almost killed Enron.
- I got a year of Xbox Live, and a long-ass piece of CAT6 cable, and (I think - it's still at FedEx) a wireless headset, so I will be able to jump back onboard Left Four Dead soon! That game really was fun.

RIP Nerd Planet

My sister got me a gift certificate for there for Christmas, and it's a good thing I used it right away, because as I was getting rung up the guy asked me my name for the mailing list and then said, "You know what, never mind, it's over."

"What, really?"

"Yeah, we're closing on the fourth."

He was really depressed and sad about it -- in fact, he honestly seemed like he was about to cry. Well, it has been a long time coming, but it's still sad to see a piece of Action Team history go down the tubes. Perhaps there will be some glorious sales later in the week!

| ZOMG

Man, really? I seriously looked for you like every other night and never found anyone!

It is still an entirely fun game and I could not be happier with my purchase. One of the best bang for your buck titles out there.

L4D is to action gaming, as Jackass the Movie I is to laughing in movie theaters.

L4D is to action gaming as Baywatch is to bouncing boobs in bathing suits.

L4D is to action gaming as Eric is to amusing.

L4D is to action gaming as Bro Hymn is to skating soundtracks.
I was on stealth mode for like a weekend eric. I switched it back but never see you on. Don't be cheap, re-up your Live so your wife can watch netflix...

and the sound makes my video, you gotta watch it again bro, but PUMP it up

| News That is Fit to Print

- Xmas is over!

- It is cold!

- My month trial to Gold is over, and since Rudy and Jon are on stealth mode, I never knew when they were on to play a game with anyway, so I barely used it! :) :(

- That Rudy skate video is one of the funniest things I have seen in some time. I only watched the first half, and with no sound, but after hearing about the first few seconds from Rudy a few weeks ago, to finally see it made my day!

- I am horrible addicted to a game called Cradle of Rome for the DS. If you have one, and you like clever and horribly addicting bejeweled-ish games, get it.

- Combat Commander: Pacific is all sorted, punched, and collecting dust on my shelf as we speak. Along with all my other games. Except Pandemic which I have played 4 times at work! Pandemic Friday's, baby! The human race is a collective 1 - 4 vs. the game.

- Still enjoying the Left for Dead solo stylee. Good for some nice shooty good times.

- Didn't realize that Joss Whedon of Buffy/Angel/Serenity fame wrote the screenplay for Toy Story! At least he had top billing amongst 3 writers, anyway.

- Got over my revulsion for Tom Cruise and saw Valkryie with my cousin yesterday. It was a good movie and I was nervous and sweating the whole way through. Not like academy award winning good, but informative good. I knew about the plot, I knew about a lot of the tale, but unless the movie was telling a bald faced lie, I certainly learned something about the scope of the plan and just how far it went. Go see it.