Meanderings Archived
09/10/05 - 10/23/05
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Meanderings Archived
09/10/05 - 10/23/05 |
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Cabin Fever (2002)
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Lakeside
Spent the day at Canyon Lake on Saturday, there's really only a few pictures. It was a nice day to be on the lake. Later while waiting in the truck I got to hear the first quarter of the UT-Tech game, and that was also enjoyable. But it was a long fucking workday, which is I guess becoming the norm these days; hence the gap between this and the last entry. But a few things have passed that I will mention.
SOCOM 3 is great, got that at the beginning of last week. The maps are all pretty huge, and that's kind of a two-edged sword. First of all the terrain and cover is much much better, with incredible environments (marshes, deserts, castles). But sometimes you have to wander quite a bit before getting into "the shit," especially with less than a full roster for both teams. Then again it is nice to load up with sniper weapons and run around listening for distant firefights until you find one you can lend your rifle to... Nothing eases the pain of getting repeatedly sniped than doing a bit of it yourself. All the extra space means a sniper has to worry less about getting run up on. Also the graphics are much better than S2, with great smoke and explosion effects. The fairly standard Socom engine has been tweaked with a few awesome changes: vehicles, highly customizable weapons, running speed/encumbrance tradeoffs, new mission types... I find myself playing respawn games a lot more than I used to, mainly because some of the new maps are so large and the waiting times can go long on the big games between rounds. Respawn demolition is probably my favorite arrangement. The vehicles are fucking great. The end.
I haven't seen Doom yet, but I did see The Rock on John Stewart, and seeing him bring the BFG onto the Daily Show set pretty much sealed the deal. The film looks completely ridiculous, and that's exactly why I want to see it.
Speaking of the Daily Show, I watched 4 of the 5 new The Colbert Report episodes (is that the right word?) and I predict we will be hearing the word gravitas a lot more in the media for a while. When he says gravitas it always sounds like the punchline to a dirty joke. Lots of stumbling over the words, but I have faith it will improve... hopefully before CC cancels it.
Speaking of cancelled, we finally had to start renting chapters of Firefly. Good times. This show is so much like Cowboy Bebop, but with its own addictive flair (and a bigger cast of characters). The last episode we watched was "Jaynestown," ah it's great. The only thing that sucks is knowing that every episode I watch brings me closer to the dead end of this cancelled series. Like Bebop, I guess there's the movie to look forward to, but it still sucks. Maybe Joss will keep making films (like Star Trek), damn I hope so.
I don't really understand the deal here. You're fighting the 17 and under thing by playing the free speech card? It's too bad that more and more of these video game companies are making people like Jack Thompson look good. "Sims 2, the latest version of the Sims video game franchise... contains, according to video game news sites, full frontal nudity, including nipples, penises, labia, and pubic hair." Ah what a guy. Sim labia. He was interviewed for a gaming radio show, here's that show. A-Rod expressed his frustration at the host's incompetence. I didn't really notice, but I'm pretty incompetent myself.
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Can You Dig It
I finally put the display cabinet in my garage to some use. It's amazing though how much crap can accrue on stuff in storage. What did spiders do with their egg cases before people were building garages, I wonder?
Mackus and Muckboot squared off for Game 2 in our 40k campaign. Having penetrated the outer PDF defenses, the motley Chaos crew makes its way to an archeotech excavation on the outskirts of a large Imperial city. They discover groups of silent robots about to enter the mineshaft of interest - robots that don't take kindly to the intrusion - and battle is quickly joined. Here's the photo report.
Speaking of destruction, my buddy from school Danny sent me some pictures from Katrina damage in Mississippi.
Sure, you've seen the new hotness - is this hotness-er?
Anyone who knows me knows this grates on my nerves. What a miracle, twiddly dee.
High quality pictures from C-Bolt's wedding.
I grubbied SOCOM 3 on opening day, and the jump in quality from the Beta to the real deal was substantial. The graphics are amazing. The new gameplay elements are amazing. Amazing.
Whether this will be as amazing remains to be seen. I watched the movie on Spike TV last week, and I forgot what a perfect set-up for a video game it is. And actually Manhunt is already so close, what with all the bizzarely dressed gangmembers, the obsession with switchblades and baseball bats (at least early on) - why bother to make the actual Warriors game?
Hey, awesome - Magnolia Electric Co. has its own myspace page. Dig it.
Croquet night game.
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Omnipotence... Gotta Get Me Some Of That, Mmm?
I came across this silliness on del.icio.us recently. I love the "video store clerk slash marketing genius" character he makes up for one of his little trite examples. Dilworth is clearly a boss with an edge - he's fuckin' edgy, whoah! He needs some hip hip skydiving Mountain Dew hipsters who love to live life to the edgiest! With extremely hip prejudice! Whaooo hold on now, here we go on the Dilworth express!
This Spy Hunter entry at www.klov.com intrigued me - it mentions the rumored "graveyard level..." I can totally remember people talking about that in the smoky bowling alley arcade I played this in as a kid. Couldn't even reach the damn pedals and steer at the same time, but I sure remember trying to imagine what this ostensibly tombstone-rich raceway would be like... too bad it doesn't exist.
Damn I've been meaning to mention this for some time now. Where you @? Shut up Fat Joe. I wish you were a pet psychologist, I'd knock you upside the head.
To my 40k audience - check out this new Tau slave race: The Vespids. Or at least one little picture of them. They're just pumping these codices out quicker than goose crap. Also, Muckboot beat up my Guard the other day in the first game of a narrative campaign I'm pretty much making up as we go along - soon to include Mackus' Necronian Necrons. Fun? Boy howdy. Wait'll you see my... Witch Hunters. Here's a funny 40konline forum topic I chimed in on... my comments are pretty lame, but some of these guys get so snippy about the rules. I love that shit. Just look at 'em go, especially on page three.
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A Millionaire To Shovel All That Coal
I happened upon this oddity: The Silver Hearts Play Rain Dogs. You can only listen to the first two minutes of each track, but it was enough to intrigue me. At first it was rather bracing to hear the familiar instrumentation without Tom's falling-down-a-gravel-road voice, but you kinda get used to it after a while. My favorites from the original were still the best of the covers: "Jockey Full of Bourbon," "Clap Hands," "Rain Dogs." The description of their actual performance set sounds intriguing... they should have made a DVD too. For your convenience, here's a decent collection of Tom Waits tab with which to make your own version of the album.
I also found this interesting Waits interview, though I'm not sure where this was originally printed because I didn't do any further poking around. I love the first bit, horsebacon, what a master.
Kaylube sent me these two interesting sites: 50's DisneyLand and Anaheim Colony. California, in all its glory. I find little gems like these from time to time just by googling random place names.
Maybe some more a bit later...
My shares in Fear, Inc. are doing well this week, what with the Avian Vapours and Subway Prebombing looming overhead...
Does Mr. Freeh set his own moral compass with the strange Opus Die sect of the Catholic chuch, of which he is purported to be a member? Here I thought it was some kind of Berkeley Breathed book.
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A Doll Killin', Coon Savin', Broom Jumpin' Kind of Week
It was Kaylube's wedding day yesterday, and much fun was had by all. Himself and K tied the knot out at the Wizard's Academy's grounds in Goldenwood, with the actual ceremony held in the Wedding Chapel Dulcinea and the following reception in the nearby feasting hall. Here's my amateur photo album. Honestly I don't think the pictures completely captured the cozy atmosphere; it was a great time at an awesome location. Congratulations C & K.
Mackus' Necrons ended up roasting my Imperial Guard last week, here's the photo report. After using them to wreck shop in Winter Assault, I fielded a flamy/assaulty Command HQ with Commissar, Priest, and Psyker advisors that did manage to take out one of his attack wings. Otherwise the Necron Monolith pretty much devastated my armor and infantry, leaving me too many points behind to survive the Seek and Destroy scenario. Good game.
This month's Amistad research trip was a pretty good time, probably the last one I'll take with Dannyboy, who is about to go work for FEMA on the Gulf Coast. A lot of work, a lot of relaxation.
CNNsanity:
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Elf (2003)
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Hidalgo (2004)
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The Gear in the Rear
DoW: Winter Assault is awesome, and I haven't even played with any army other than IG yet. Each of the original races got a new unit type - Chaos: Khorne Berzerkers, Eldar: Fire Dragons, Orks: Mega-armoured Nobs, and SM's: Chaplains. I have had the distinct displeasure of facing these units, however, and wielded by the computer on Standard difficulty they can make an IG commander start to curse uncontrollably, especially that SM Chaplain. I finally won a match tonight after several losses in a Standard skirmish against 4 AI forces. Thanks to some sustained disagreements between my opponents, and some early combat grabs on my part, I was finally able to tech up to the ridiculously powerful Baneblade and defeat the final AI Ork army. The Baneblade is serious tank p4wn, and it packs more heat than a burned-out Papa John's delivery man.
Probably the next best thing about IG is the race-specific engagement commentary, e.g. "Gory, look at the size of 'em" when you run into Marines. That and the Basilisks. These are a delight. Cut off their front assault lines and disrupt any fire support they might have behind them, draw their HQ's up, and send in the Command Squad with two Priests and two Commissars backing up the General. It is just as fun as I had imagined it would be. The only drawback now is not being able to field the artillery pieces in my tabletop IG army without paying 40 or 50 bucks.
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Hot to Death
I got another diel study wrapped up last Friday, having stayed overnight at one of my sites on the Blanco. Here's a photo album of my adventures. That sun glare was just from when I picked it up to take the picture - it was 109 in the shade.
I remembered to bring a walkman with me and so I was able to hear to a lot of AM radio. During the day I listened to a south Texas station featuring detailed discussion of local high school football and the changing prices of calves.
At night I rotated through a bunch of San Antonio stations, most of them fielding callers stuck in traffic outside of SA and Houston. The radio waves served as a perfect metaphor for the fear that was so thick in the air before Rita's landfall. Just running my finger over the tuning dial, I was transported from one group of agitated local personalities to the next, each with their own particular public official connection calling in and giving the latest news. It was crazy hearing all kinds of people call in just to curse out whoever they felt was most responsible for the evacuation procedure.
I also heard some Coast to Coast, featuring the "Human Computer" moaning about the stagnation of space exploration. That website is great. I love the submitted photos section. Gems like these always crack me up. Even better is hearing him refer to the specific photo during a show; he treats the most ridiculous ones with the same characteristic deference as any other.
One of the old cowboys that called in to that south Texas station was talking about some particular farm difficulty, and expressed how much it "sucked." It occurs to me every now and then how far this word has come from its origin - or at least what I perceive to be its origin. We all know what we're talking about here, yes? Now its so widespread as to be relatively tame in the pantheon of American English slang expressions. Babies coming right out of the birth canal are now commonly heard to utter things like "This sure is some sucky weather, honestly", or "Damn, that new David Spade show sucks" or even "You know what really sucks? Being born!" Am I alone in thinking maybe Bart Simpson had a big hand in that? That was the first show I really heard throwing it around. But I want to know definitively that the root expression here, well, expressly involved the root. After all, what could be negative about sucking down some lemonade or a milkshake? Straws are pretty cool, especially those bendy ones. I liked the idea behind the long, twisty turny novelty straw, but by the time your soda or whatever made it to your mouth it was warm from running through all that surface area. I was pretty disappointed in the Wikipedia entry.
Speaking of Roots, Porgy referred me to this classic YTMND page. You either get it or you don't, I guess. Also he sent me here - World Jump Day? Oh people.
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Of Storms and Diversions
Fuckin' hurricanes. I am capable of putting things into perspective, I guess, but it still doesn't completely salve the irritation of not being able to play the DoW expansion Winter Assault some three days after the published "released date." According to the EB Games guy, the shipment was coming through Houston and had to be rerouted. Ehhhhh. Lame. Maybe it's because I have a limited time nowadays to play these games, and this release would have coincided with a few free evenings this week... but so much for that. Gotta get up ass-early tomorrow morning for another study at one of my Blanco sites, then "scurry" back. Lil' Rita's a-comin' on strong.
The death and destruction are bad enough by themselves, but they also irritate me because apparently FX network writers are proving to be our generation's Nostradamii. Dammit. And I'm sure Kanye's putting the polish on his next "impromptu" emotional diatribe. Fuckin' Kanye.
"George Bush doesn't care about the Moutons' beach house."
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Crash (2004)
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Wreckage Strewn About
I played some Dawn of War with Mutton yesterday and oh what a joy. This screenshot here to the left is from our first game, played on a rather small map with shitloads of starting resources. Unfortunately it only looks like I'm about to take it to his Eldar base. Two land raiders and several squads of marines couldn't pierce his outer defenses. I was thirty seconds away from winning a critical location victory when a small group of his Howling Banshees snagged it from me. He then proceeded to march a large parade of Fire Prism tanks into my base and grabbed the win by destroying my Stronghold. Ye bastard. Retribution was mine, though, in the second match. This time we picked a much larger map and started out with normal resources, giving us both time to build up our forces (but still allowing for small squabbles over specific strategic locations). It was no surprise when Mutton started warping his troops and fortifications around (was there really a start/end?). But after winning an epic battle for the center Relic, I started pumping out Terminators like nobody's uncle and eventually I hunted down all his little minibases to take the victory.
And to answer your question, no, it isn't enough that I babble on about the tabletop 40k all the time, I'm pretty stoked about DoW too. The Winter Assault expansion comes out on Monday. From the previews I've read so far, Imperial Guard is supposed to best suit the "turtle" playstyle. I'm not for certain, but that might be me. The turtle.
Some cool DoW badges and banners. The DoW Community Map Packs. A small note: the first custom map I tried to play (Black Fortress) bugged out on me. You may have to get all the official patches to be able to use it, I'm not sure. I do know that the Machine needs to get a legitimate copy already so we can start playing some 3-person matches.
I forgot to tell you about the Space Wolves' victorious slaughter over Mucky's Chaos legion. They also won a match against Mackus' Necrons.
And I highly recommend watching Leroy Jenkins if you're ever in need of a smile. I realize most of you have seen this. It's just as good as it ever was.
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A Take On Texas/OSU by McCecil
First of all, the last 2 weeks I found myself trying to dodge the unbelievable media blitz for this game.
"Oh, the majesty. Oh, the match-up." Oh, the blah blah blah - play the damn game already.
Thankfully, they did, and it was one for the ages. Characterized by offenses that were, at times, inept or irresponsible, but full of great defense that kept both teams within striking distance. Thankfully, it was the Buckeyes who forgot to strike. 4 field goals? Only 9pts of off 3 turnovers? Not stellar, Buckeyes.
What would be the winning drive for Texas was no ordinary feat, either. And the Longhorn faithful owes it all to one thing. . . Vince Young? No. Wide Receiver, Limas Sweed? Nope.
It was my orange Moped helmet.
As Texas QB Vince Young marched onto the field for the UT's final drive, I gently grabbed my helmet, looked at Willmo, and said, "It's time." I put it on. . . . and the rest is history.
Oh, and to all of those who said Texas wouldn't be able to handle the hostile crowd at the "horse shoe," just remember the game is played on the field, not in the stands. You didn't even have any Moped helmets, bitches.
See you in Dallas, Sooners.
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Class In Session
School is definitely back in full gear now, and I put off updating for a spot while I got reacquainted with the joy of commuting five times a week. I took this picture here with my phone in front of Home Depot the other day while it was raining. For some reason this little grill set-up struck me - it looks like little grill kids seated before a grill teacher. Whatever.
This Burger King/Star Wars 20 Questions game blew my mind a few times, correctly guessing "didgeridoo" and "tank" before failing to deduce "action figure." Who is the little crack webteam that cranks these BK sites out - the old subservient chicken was a good one, too.
I enjoyed the Vonnegut interview on the Daily Show, though it was obviously too short for my or Stewart's liking. The list he mentions at the end but is unable to finish reading is found here.
It goes without saying that I watched the US Open finals, men and womens titles, and they were both excellent matches. Kim Clijsters (or Clijsterfuck as we call her around my house) really worked hard this year and deserved every win. Hopefully she'll stick around long enough to become a new female legend. And Agassi/Federer, what can I say, it was an epic performance from Andre but honestly I was relieved when Federer took that 3rd set tiebreak 7-0. Quite frankly I don't ever want to see this guy lose. I want him to be like a Halley's Comet-style athlete. An epic hero. Tough timing for Agassi to stake a comeback.
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Drop Some Pod
My Space Wolves army is fairly mobile; I've got a Land Raider first and foremost, a Rhino/Razorback, and two Attack Bikes with multimeltas. But since Space Wolves refuse to teleport, I'm stuck with little to no deep strike option (unless you count Wolf Scouts, who "drop" in at the opponents table edge - but they're pretty harmless and serve mostly as a quick distraction). Fortunately the new Drop Pod rules, unlike many of the other new features in the last Space Marine Codex, can be used by the Wolves with the same point cost and specs. UNfortunately, regardless of their great fluff and tactical appeal, GW still refuses to make models for the things, letting Forgeworld continue to rape the masses, charging like 60 or 70 bucks for a single Pod. Actually I don't even think they make them anymore.
Really the only things in my army I'm interested in deep-striking are the Venerable Dreadnought and Terminators. So I went scouring the net for ways to make your own Pods, and I found a few amusing things. Mostly I was grabbing reference pictures, to try to design and make one from scratch out of foamcard. This French GW site popped up in a google image search - I can't decide which is my favorite picture tagline: "Ce Defiler en pince pour les Space Wolfs!" or "Slaanesh, tout en séduction." Foreign languages are funny, yes indeed.
I think I'm still going to make one out of card, but maybe using these paper cut-out Pods as templates, then glue or greenstuff a bunch of Space Wolves shit on it. I'll probably have to go through a couple of prototypes to get anything worth looking at though.
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