06/06/05 - 07/21/05
|
|
06/06/05 - 07/21/05 |
|
We Keeps It Movin
In anticipation for the October release of SOCOM 3, I started picking up matches on S2 recently. Still a great game. It will be missed, regardless of the pleasures offered by the newest incarnation. Some great screens for S3. I still can't get over the fact that 32 people (2 teams of up to 16) could be fighting in one room. Honestly, I'm not sure how that will play out. I wouldn't be suprised if, for a time at least, people were reluctant to participate in the large games. Time between play will surely increase. It's hard enough waiting now with 8 players per team, especially if you die early in the round. I know it was enough to turn the impatient away from the SOCOM multiplayer experience, those poor unfortunate souls. They know not what they miss.
So I was pretty pleased to hear I get to beta test another version of SOCOM. For all the strange member polls and silly certificates, joining the PS underground was definitely worth it. I've only had one stinker Beta in my opinion (something about "Winter..." - I forget). As luck would have it, I was near my computer at the moment of the invitation email's arrival. It's always glitchy as shit in the beginning, but near the end of the test most of the kinks are worked out and players are scaling the learning curve, adjusting their tactics to new maps, vehicles, and weaponry. From reading the Beta manual (PDF format already on the Beta website), you can change your audio channel to speak to all team members, or only those in two different 'squads.' Maybe this will somehow address the long waits inherent in a 16v16 match. Also you can swim. Underwater. That's going to be huge.
It occurs to me that all of these 'new' features have been included in most FPS's for some time, especially those NOT on the PS2. Well sure, but now fucking SOCOM has that shit, ya heard.
|
|
Colonel Angus Can Get Messy
After starting something like four different books and slowly reading them all at the same time, I picked up Sarah Vowell's Assassination Vacation at the library last Wednesday and finished it this morning. Basically this frequent This American Life contributor follows one of her central obsessions (presidential assassinations) around the country to sites relevant to the theme (no matter how menial). But it's not really a travel guide. Instead she focuses more on the strange stories and characters surrounding Lincoln, Garfield, and McKinley's murders, filling in the blanks with the kind of cynical wit that any regular TAL listener will know quite well. I couldn't put it down until I was done. Recommended.
This GTA:SA Hot Coffee business is retarded. Just... stupid. Fuck the modding community. So the questionable material is buried in the original game. Who gives a shit, up the rating, give it a triple-X or whatever the fuck you want to do, just get it over with and take it off the fucking headlines before our hypocrite, reactionary congress takes off with it. Rockstar, your best bet here is just to play ball, do the recall or whatever they decide, pay for it out of your huge mormon-style gold coffers, and be a little more careful with your digital loose ends before going to press next time. And Hillary, please. Should kids ever be able to buy GTA? No. OK then. Enough. Zip it, all of you. Iraq.
I forgot what the 'AR' in AR Sulfuric Acid stood for, that is, until I visited www.stands4.com, a handy index for abbreviations of all kinds, sorted by category. That's ridiculous. Someone just does this shit. The internet is so bloody marvelous. Witness Robersan's honeymoon photoblog. Bringing the fury to Western Europe.
Speaking of the fury, have I mentioned that HBO will not be renewing Carnivale for another season? For shame, Hibbo. For shame. Pulling the plug like it was some kind of time-in-a-bottle sitcom. I can't decide if my love for the show's two epic seasons can withstand the black soulcloud precipitated upon hearing news of its demise. For shame!
|
|
|
I Hit That; It's Been Hit
I'm pretty sure this is referring to the little soundbite in the commercial where the distorted voice of a constipated truck salesman (at least I think that's who it's supposed to be) says 'hit it' before the bassy guitar riff kicks in. I don't think it's a coincidence. Seriously, watch that Persuaders episode of Frontline. This is a multimedia marketing package.
I don't know why I thought this particular one interesting enough to mention - maybe because this insignificant (or so I previously thought) TV ad catchphrase was made into a little button for internet marketing. I love it when they make buttons on banners. Is there a human being alive anymore that doesn't know the whole banner is linked? I also love those people who double-click everything. When to click and when to double-click, that's a modern learning curve for you.
Well, del.icio.us is still paying off dividends - I got linked up to this cool artists page artdorks.com, featuring galleries and news covering their members' latest submissions. Good stuff, tons of artists. Just on the first page I liked chunksoflunk, CMR, and Samuel Casal.
Check out this NOA page. Arrsome.
|
|
The Dude vs Predator
I know some people watch Predator and see a corny action/monster movie, maybe they're impressed a bit, maybe not, but they eventually move on with their lives. I am unfortunately one of those whose imagination was struck like a large gong by these movies and they are still among my all-time favorites. I'm not sure exactly why, but along with Scott/Geiger's Aliens, the creatures strike me as the most interesting fictional outerwordly beings ever imagined. My wife happens to enjoy the movies as well. So when we finally broke down and bought AvP on DVD yesterday, it was only because we were fairly confident some new "extra-specialey" version would not be coming out. And I'm keeping my fingers crossed. We hadn't seen it since last summer in the theater (my original review), and all the wait for a home screening just made it sweeter. Like most of the other titles in either franchise, there are some obvious bones to pick with the dialogue and plot progression. Thankfully I'm blinded to that fact by another: these guys are just so fuckin awesome. I don't know if I can really get any more elaborately descriptive than that.
They're not especially admirable ethically or philosophically, but their technology, their martial prowess, and the overall drippiness of their jowls makes up for it in spades. Can't get enough.
I rented the new PS2 game, Predator: Concrete Jungle, and it was fun as hell. Maybe not the best action platformer, but all the devices are there to satisfy any fan. They should have put more emphasis on the stealth aspect of the game, would have made it ten times better. The graphics are great. The gameplay takes some getting used to, but once you settle in, so so satisfying.
If you also enjoy the Predator line, try The Hunted. The Internets is so great. So much time and energy invested by individuals into gathering information about such mundane subjects (not that the Predator is mundane, ahem). The galactic hunter has encountered such a wide variety of opponents in the mythology, for example: Batman (read both series, enjoyed them), Judge Dredd (not going anywhere near it), Magnus: Robot Fighter (who? actually I own this, too), The Terminator (uhhh...), and even Katie Holmes. Ok, so not Katie Holmes. But man that article creeps me out! Fucking Scientology handler, right there by her side at all times... oh man.
Which prompted me to seek out Operation: Clambake, a vast anti-scientology page with tons of articles, links, whathaveyou debunking this crazy crazy cult conspiracy. I came away from the experience pretty freaked out. The featured TIME article is a good place to start. Crazy! Damn!
Speaking of crazy, has Jobs fucking lost it? I mean, I guess technically it's a nice thing to do, but... just a little weird.
He totally blasted her. What a strange headline.
Found this on Amazon.com. That would totally freak me out. Being a Time Warner customer, I'm privvy to free on-demand programming (I just discovered it this last week), and I watched (between old Flying Circus and Upright Citizen Brigade episodes) a little four-minute blurb about Lebowski Fest on "G4 On Demand." What a strange little microcosm of fandom, with folks from all over dressing up as the most obscurely referenced characters. Wonder where that Fall 2005 fest will be? Probably a fuck long way away from here. Gotta grub me one of those Achiever T-Shirts in any case. Awesome. I just remembered I first met "I Hate The Fuckin' Eagles, Man" Tony laughing about Dude dialogue at a College Park party. Remember that shit, T-Bag? Of course you do.
After a long hiatus, Mucky and I played some 40k again on Saturday. Unfortunately it didn't come out too fairly, mostly because the army she was playing was very crappily designed. By me. My bad.
|
|
Palpatine: G8 Merely A 'Dog and Pony Show' of Darkness
A prominent Dark Lord of the Sith was arrested on the outskirts of police barricades set up in anticipation of the G8 summit in Edinburgh, Scotland today. A spokesperson for the Emperor told Meanderings that the dark lord was merely expressing his disdain for the famous summit rather than actually protesting it. 'Why would my Lord deign himself to interfere with such a useless, self-aggrandizing band of gladhanders? Quabbling like pups underneath the baby's high-chair at supper time.' After he exposed his bare, gray, and noticeably evil bottocks at passing dignitaries Palpatine was formerly put under arrest by Scottish police.
Before he was taken into custody, Palpatine called the Clandestine Insurgent Rebel Clown Army 'merely a insignificant rabble consisting of the possibly the lamest losers in the galaxy.' Later, he made no visible effort to resist the officers escorting him from the premises, asking police only to 'do what must be done.'
|
|
Chronicles of Roddick
It was a tense if not anticlimactic men's final match at Wimbledon. Federer is just a perfect tennis machine sent back in time to destroy any opponent that might meet him on a court. Just like last year, Roddick's tries every damn thing he can and gets passed over and over and over again. And just like last year, both these guys are professional and courteous (although there were never any close calls or disputed points). Still, Roddick vs. Johannsen (sp?) was a more thrilling match to watch. The point just before game-set-match was so brutal, the smallest rub on the top of the net dropping the ball right at the base in the middle of a dramatic series of long range volleying. Hopefully someone else saw this.
U.S. Open coming in August. I want to watch a few games from the other US tournaments building up to it between now and then.
|
|
Watersports?
Oi! Time for the obligatory "It's been a while since the last update" comment. I've been out of town. Last weekend we had a spot of vacation time down in Port Aransas, here's some pictures. When I got back I had a day to catch my breath and repack before heading down to Lake Amistad for another research trip. Pictures from Amistad. We only had three people (more like 2 1/2) this time, creating a slightly larger workload. I was pretty wiped out by the end of it.
I've been listening to several Tom Waits concert bootlegs, each from different stages of his career/state of mind. It gives me chills, especially when I start to imagine the sorts of things I'd do to make it one of his shows myself. I do hope violence can be avoided. Usually I keep an eye on this Waits news site: The Eyeball Kid. Through this site I linked to an IMDB listing for a Prairie Home Companion movie, which sounds like a really strange project (the cast!?!).
I checked out a couple of graphic novels from the library last week, bound volumes of American Splendor and Preacher: Gone to Texas. First a few notes about Preacher. I realized as I started the first issue in the book that Rober-san had them in college, and I had read them, and I remembered liking them. I don't know whether I've passed out of a certain phase, or maybe I've just become supersaturated with Tarantino-style antics, but I really didn't enjoy revisiting the title. I forgot how lame recaps can be in comics, as you move on through the issues they're always having to repeat plotlines or even verbatim quotes, it just seems fake, destroying valuable suspension of disbelief. That's probably a silly complaint to make about a story centered around a man possessed by the offspring of a seraphim and a daemonette, but there were other things I didn't enjoy. It really tries way too hard to be 'gritty' and 'hard-boiled.' The characters all come at you too fast, without enough development. The art is good, but not the best I've ever seen. I'm trying to figure out why Kevin Smith called them "as fun as the movies" or something like that. Because it feels more like an childhood VHS handheld only with really good makeup and special effects.
American Splendor, however, is fucking great. I wonder if I took the time and energy to translate my own experiences - would they be as readable? I'm not (or at least I'd like to think I'm not) as neurotic as Harvey, and I'd be hard pressed to come up with anyone I know who can draw like R. Crumb or Gerry Shamray. Some people would find Pekar's work to be lame and pointless, but I thought they were fucking delicious. Read as much as you can get a hand on, some stories are more interesting than others, but even the boring ones can make you think about all the drama and petty banalities you deal with as you go through the day.
Two tears in a bhuket?
The worst mistake? I can think of a mistake your Daddy made, i.e. impregnating your mother with you. Smug self image indeed.
Thanks so much to Rober-san for all the links to the various YTMND gems, including these:
|
|
Green River
The picture didn't come out very well, but this is a large perennial spring on the Blanco that I've been interested in lately. Upstream of this point a large section of the river goes completely dry, and I'm told this spring best represents the continuation of those flows after moving underground. In any case, I've got a little temperature bug planted here, but who knows if it will be there in August when I go to retrieve it. As you can imagine it's a pretty popular spot for residents in the area (despite its being fairly well hidden). Anyhoo.
When something is this good, it helps ease the pain of parroting others' posts (in this case the Machine's). Genius.
I forget how I first found this obscure AdCouncil webpage. Seems like you can get anything.org these days.
CNNsanity:
|
|
Batman Begins (2005)
|
||||||||||||||||
|
Re-nothing
I'm not ashamed to admit that I'm a fan of shortbread cookies. After small time experimentation with the crystal-sugar-dusted variety (the ones that came in the big round blue tins - a staple at church or school social functions), it wasn't long before I was pinching my grandmother's Pepperidge Farm Chessmen when I didn't think anyone was looking. It's like sand you can eat, for chrissakes. Throw in some pecans and chocolate chips, wellsir, that's a treasure indeed. First price and then taste brought me over to the generic species - HEB's Pecan Treasures with chocolate chips and pecans. I don't know whether they do it on purpose or not but it seems like every batch I get tastes a little bit different than the last - maybe just a tad more crumbly one week, a preposterously large chocolate chip load the next. Don't get me wrong, I've yet to have a bad experience with the cookies themselves. They're firmly ensconced in the weekly lunch dessert rotation between ginger snaps and oreos.
Unfortunately when it comes to creating a convenient, resealable wrapping for a product, HEB just doesn't give a flying fuck.
OK, so you've got the thing on the table, you're ready to dig in. Maybe (after a lifetime of lunchbox cuisine) you have a little experience with uncooperative packaging, so you approach it with a little sensitivity, resisting the urge (at least momentarily) to grab it by the top and bottom on one end and just rip the shit out of it. You're not some greenhorn - tearing out some gaping paw-hole like a honey-high bear just wouldn't do at all. They'd be dried out and tasteless in less than a day. So you take your time, apply a delicate surgeon's hand to the operation. It won't matter. The things are fucking boobytrapped. Follow and slowly separate every seam, be as gentle as you like - four out of five times you start a huge, jagged tear that zips up the middle of the top quicker than you can say "retarded Keebler elf."
But let's say by some miracle you do somehow defuse this little land-mine. You manage to properly open up one end to where you can slide the cookie tray in and out for easy access. The outer wrapper comes with a handy "resealable tab" (seen in the picture) and several quick and easy instructions. I could reprint them here, but it doesn't really matter. Suffice it to say it's a magical thing that the seal stays tacked on until you get it home from the store. The "re-" in "reseal" is a fucking hoax. I've found it necessary to resort to more primitive instrumentation.
Yessir.
|
|
|
Darth Hostage?
|
|
TNT Presents: The Closets
I could have spent time coming up with a more accurate logo, but I realized that out of all the people enduring TNT's endless spots, I was probably the only one that actually saw The Closer. I couldn't help it; I was bored out of my mind and it promised a commercial-free pilot. Like they were just giving it away. How could I refuse? Turns out, Kyra Sedgewick gots nothing on Glenn Close. If you're going to interrogate somebody on TV nowadays, you'd better at least have some pictures of their little brother being raped in prison by rival gang members to use as leverage. The bar has been set! Hearing the lines from that damn commercial brought a few nauseous laughs from time to time, but nothing about the show was even remotely interesting.
The Shield season finale was great, with a classic end montage lacking only in the Coldplay department. After all the tense dramatic action, I need a little "Clocks"-style piano while the screen fades through shot after shot of each characters' tears or laughter. It was a good season, but not the best. The bit at the end hinting at a possibly straighter and narrower Vic - at first I was intrigued. Then I realize they've made those same hints time and time again and yet by the middle of the season you know he's giving back some tar to a dealer, setting a suspect on fire, whatever. Part of me really wanted Dutch to take over the yard, just to see Jay Karnes milk some more crazy out of the character. I'll still watch it again next year.
CNNtology:
|
|
Troy (2004)
|
||||||||||||||||
|
Epic
Well, not actually Epic... but I had a great match with Mackus earlier this week, here's the rundown. Mack is definitely picking up on the more subtle points of warfare in the 41st millenium and his game has improved. The Necron Lord was a much more potent force, tying up the entire Space Wolves line for more than two full turns. Luckily for me he didn't go straight for the Terminators, because they wouldn't have lasted long against that Warscythe of his. Somehow I doubt he'll make the same mistake next time. Oh well, they can fuckin take it! Bring that shit, guv!
Various internet flotsam and jetsam from my brother...
And thanks to McCecil for this amusing piece of WOW comedy.
|
|
National Treasure (2005)
|
||||||||||||||||
