29.12.06

Long, Long Time

Wow, it's nearly the New Year. I haven't posted here since October. What all have I been up to? Plenty. I've decided, for starters, that I'm going to quit World Of Warcraft. It was fun for a time, but I've fallen out of favor with it. Plus the last few months I haven't really had any time or inclination to play. Even now, on break, I don't really feel like playing at all. So yeah, I'm donating all my stuff to my guildmates, and closing my account. or at least, stopping payment on it for now. If March (when my current billing period ends) comes along, and I have a job to pay for an account, and I've got time between work, class, and other obligations, AND I have an inclination to roam around Azerath looking for a fight, then maybe I'll join back in again.

Oh, holy poop! Google has updated Bloggers functionality. I'm interested to see how it all works out and such. I doubt you guys will see any differences, but I'm having fun noticing the little differences. I'll start putting tags on these, and maybe if I'm bored I'll go back and tag the old ones too. Probably not though.

Christmas and my birthday came and went pretty quickly. I'm pleased to say that I got a lot more things that were on my list than last year: Star Wars, Boondocks, Superman Returns, and The Transformers Movie on DVD, the book House of Leaves... well, lots of cool stuff. My Dad came into town, asked us all what we wanted for Christmas that we didn't get, and after Danny mentioned a guitar, I mentioned a Wii, not really expecting him to go for it, but tomorrow I'm gonna call all the shops I'd think would have it and asking if they have one in stock for me. I'll list the whole deal on my Wishlist blog when it's over, but for now I'll just say I'm very satisfied with what I've got done. That list seemed to work out well this year. I also got a ton of gift cards, including $150 for Best Buy. I ended up spending that on DS games, and tons of cash on tons of Transformers. I am a spoiled brat.

I got a $50 gift card for BookPeople wedged in the cover of House of Leaves. At the same time, BookPeople is going to have a 20% off sale Jan 1st. I'm currently deep into House of Leaves right now, but I'm already working on a list of books I want to get. John Hodgeman ("I'm a PC" guy from those apple commercials) has a book out that I've had my eye on. No idea how it missed my wishlist, but I'll probably pick that up. I've been meaning to get Brave New World too. Maybe I'll pick up a manga or comic, though BookPeople isn't really known for their graphic literature. I wish there was a list somewhere of authors on the Daily Show. I see so many good books pitched there, and I never remember them when I go to buy them. Imaginary Weapons is another.

I did better at school than I have, though by most standards I still sucked hard. I'm not sure what that means. I'm improving, but I was so crap that I'm not even out of the craphole I dug for myself yet. At least this time I have registered for classes earlier than a week before the next semester. That's a first for me. ^_^!

Okay, my brains starting to melt. I've got tons of stuff to do. Expect ranting on the randomness of the DS games I got and maybe some fun Wii stories to share. I dunno. Actualy, don't expect much. Just expect... something.

I promise not to wait as long this time.

27.10.06

Wow. Accurate.

It's been a while since I did one of these. You'd think that'd mean I'd do a good one now, but I'm not gonna. Instead I'll show you this quiz I took:




Gnome Mage

m-gnome.jpgmage.jpg


Gnomes are strange little things. Fascinated with gadgets and shiny things, gnomes are often plotting and planning - but are pretty smart, despite all the explosions.

As a mage, you like blowing things up. Your favorite bit of technology is anything that goes, 'boom'. You live for that huge front-end KAPOW - but, after the dust has settled, you'll find yourself searching for something else to explode.


Find out your real-life WoW race and class at QuizGalaxy.com

And yes, that was on the first try. I even put on that my body type was "taller than average" as opposed to the other one that might have fit "Dead sexy" (cuz you know I am). For those of you that don't know, my main WoW character is a gnome mage. Flaathy, on the Kargath (edit: it's KArgath, not kOrgath; I do PVE) server. I had spent like a month or two break from the game, but just recently got in, and in the past week got myself over level 40 (just hit 42 earlier tonight). I still don't have the gold for a mount, and in fact after hitting 42, I went and bought a bunch of new spells I probably didn't need. Ah well, que sera and all that.

So yeah, if you wanna join me, feel free. I may even be able to invite you into my guild. That is, the guild I belong to, not the one I lead like I was aspiring to...

Anyway, bedtime now. If I don't say anything, happy Halloween guys.!

18.10.06

Oh Wow

Okay, I'm out. I can take transforming into robots. I loved the idea of robots turning into cars. I was less thrilled with them turning into animals, but the show was good, so I accepted it. Then we got not one, not two, but FOUR cheesy Anime-style spin offs, where the main characters were the children sidekicks. Not only were they worse than Spike ever was, they were the primary actors of the series. I mean, I stopped following it after Armada, so I'm guessing on the other two.

And now this shows up. "Kiss Play" is a new line of Japanese Transformers toys (with an accompanying Manga and radio drama) that is really just the Alternators line repackaged with tiny dolls. These dolls are human sidekicks (AGAIN WITH THE SIDEKICKS) who can kiss the Transformers to give them special powers. Observe the quality of the series.

You Gonna Get RAPED!

And a sample of the radio show:
Suddenly...

"Oh, Convoy! Your shift lever is dirty," Marissa exclaims. "It must be from when I spilled soft serve ice cream on you before. I will wipe it clean for you now."

She giggles as Convoy gasps and moans. "It t-t-tickles!" he says.

"Is this the right spot?" Marissa playfully asks as he begs her to stop.

Convoy changes the subject and announces that they have reached the usual place. The truck rolls to a stop.
Wow... I'm out. No more please.

...Actually, I wouldnt mind one of the Atari X Autrooper models....

X-Fire and Other Gaming Stuff

I have X-Fire. Do any of you have X-Fire? Lemme know so I can add you to my X-Fire. Currently the only games I have that run with X-Fire are World of Warcraft and Day Of Defeat, but if I see a bunch of you on some other game, I may spring for that, too.

Also, I was thinking about making a more "professional" blog dealing with casual (as opposed to hardcore) gaming. I don't consider myself hardcode, but it seems to me that that is what most of the websites out there are targeting. The twinks, the power-levelers, the Twitch-reflex Sniper-rifles. I smell an untapped market niche. I wonder if "Casual Fridays" is taken yet....

Thoughts?

15.10.06

Worthwhile

I am worth $2,300,020 on HumanForSale.com

Just thought I'd share.

All my pokemon are going quite well, thanks for asking, and are now all between levels 50 and 60, which is a good range. I'll try to get them all to level 60, then see how they fare at a run through the Elite Four.

I had a busy day yesterday. Saw a couple of random movies: The Black Dahlia and Man of the Year. Neither was what I'd classify as "OMG THAT WAS SO COOL", but the Black Dahlia is definitely a good movie, if you're into the whole psychological mystery noir thing. Man of the Year was another in a long line of "Robin Willaims stars in a comedy movie that turns really dark and sad half way through." I've sorta gotten fed up with them.

One thing that REALLY pissed me off, though was this one woman laughing randomly in the movie. She had a really annoying laugh, too, so that you couldn't even ignore her. And she was laughing at random times. Inappropriate times, really. Like I said, the movie was one of those "Robin Williams is funny but the rest of the movie is utterly serious" things. Kinda hard to explain without spoilers, but basically, the movie was two-sided. There's the funny ha-ha comedian runs for and gets elected president plot, and then the serious corperate cover-up and scandal plot line running simultaneously. The two are interlinked, but there was literally NOTHING funny about the scenes meant for the serious plot line. There were serious aspects to the funny plot, but the serious plot was dead serious. If the serious plot wasn't so laughable (there was a glitch where the program alphabetized candidates and they couldn't fix it in time for the election - not gonna happen IRL), I could almost see that it woulda been a straight thriller without the comedian president angle at all. I actually think that's how it started, and they realized that it sucked, so they threw in Robin Williams to make up for it.

Okay, now that I've dished on the movie, lemme get back to the problem of that lady. The only thing I can think is either that she was retarded / crazy, and just didn't know what she was looking at, or she was sane, and thought she was seeing a straight comedy, and tried to see the serious plot line as humorous. In either case, it was stupid, and, more-over, distracting me from the movie. That said, what can I do about it? I couldn't really go over to her in the movie theater after she laughed wrongly and told her "NO! That's NOT funny, you shouldn't laugh at that!" Can you blame a person for their sense of humor? I mean, yeah, if she was innapropriately laughing at something in real life, something tragic, say, that's not good, but in a comedy movie, you really can't complain about an audience member laughing at the comedy. Maybe if someone was laughing annoyingly in The Black Dahlia, I could have called an usher or something and gotten her removed, or at least silenced, but not in the Robin Williams movie.

I dunno what my point was there. Just frustration, I guess.

After the movies, we went to Wal-Mart. No real reason, but while we were there I saw they had Time Spiral cards. I tried out my trick of bringing up a sealed box and getting it all for the price of one pack, but sadly, the guy wasn't falling for it. I felt guilty, actually. My Optimus Prime shirt caught the guys attention when I was looking at the cards, and we struck up a conversation about the new movie, so that, when it came time to check out, and he said "Oh, wow, $13 for a sealed box of tournament packs? That's a good price." I just sorta chuckled. "Yeah, I thought so." Luckily, I guess, the computer new better than the one at Borders. I still contend that I had to try, because a $100+ profit on Magic Cards was too good to pass up. Either way, I was punished for my greed. The one tournament pack I opened was full of junk, in all 6 rares. Somehow I even ended up with just one black uncommon. Weird.

Sigh.... I've been facing a huge sense of inertia, lately. I have had literally no will to do anything. It sucks to look back on a whole day and see that you haven't gotten ANYTHING done. You haven't even done anything to make it worth not doing the things you were supposed to do. I just sit here and veggitate. What's up with that? I need to get some order into my life. So, here's how it's gonna be from now on. No more getting online at the drop of a hat. I'm gonna put AIM and all my other messenger programs up on my laptop, so that I CAN still get to them, but it's easier to ignore them when I've got stuff to do. And I'm going to start getting to sleep at 12 at the lastest, every night except weekends. First thing after getting home from school, and when I'm between classes, I'm gonna work on papers or whatever else I need to work on. Once I get everything I know about done, or if I'm done with everything due for tomorrow (or Monday, if it's a Friday) and I've worked 2 hours (cuz seriously guys, that's long enough), I'll do my 30 minutes or so of exersize, then I can chill out or do whatever.

Also, now that I've moved all my communications to the other computer, I am free-er to play full screen games on my computer. See, I'm not just pissed about putting off about not doing school work. I'm pissed because I'm not doing ANYTHING. I'm just vegitating. My family thinks that I flunked out of college because I spent all my free time gaming when I should have been doing homework or some nonsense. And I wasn't. How fucked up do I have to be when I'm too lazy to GAME? AGH!!!! Okay, no more. I'm gonna start scheduling game time. I mean, there are gonna be some days when I'll just wanna cut loose and kick ass on Azeroth or in DoD, or whatever else comes out. But I'd also like to schedule at least one day a week that is my Warcraft afternoon / evening (right now I'm thinking Saturday), and an evening I go out to Magic draft. Some guys have poker night with the guys, some go out bowling, I'll have these nights. Maybe a night when I go lazer tagging

I'm also planning on going back to church, just to give me something to do on Sundays. I may drop that when I'm working again, but we'll see. (I'm too tired to get into a discussion of my beliefs on this right now.) And of course, I'm planning on getting a job, too, which'll put a cramp in my schedule, but nothing I can't work around. Okay, so here's hoping I can get my life back on track, or at least on some track.

Speaking of tracks, I've decided on my new long term goal. I want to run a moderately successful WoW guild. I stumbled upon AFK Gamer's blog a while ago, and pretty much got addicted to the guild politics and stuff. He treats it like an annoyance, but I think it sounds like fun. Earlier today I read a guide about running your own guild. Here's the line I found interesting:
If you really enjoy PLAYING the game that your guild is involved with, you may want to reconsider being the guild leader. You will find that as your guild grows and grows, you are the 'heavy' or the person that everyone comes to. You will be bombarded with email, ICQs, private messages in IRC, phone calls, etc. - and you CANNOT blow them off. You must answer and respond to everything sent to you, or be labelled a failure by your peers.
See, maybe it's just me, but I see all that "work" as part of the game, at a new level. Of course, I've never actually DONE it, so I don't know, but it's a bit like playing a really sophisticated version of Warcraft (without the World) or Starcraft or something. You are the general, in charge of a vast army of troops, except here, they aren't as obedient as the SCV you send to the top of the ramp as a speed bump. Basically, though, I consider managing a social network of people as a fun challenge. I'm looking forward to playing as the leader.

A few weeks ago, I was talking to a girl who's SN I'd found on /b/. Put there by an enemy and meant for raiding, but that's not how I operate. I quickly made friends with her, as I do with most people I meet online. I'm really friendly and easy to get along with online, as I'm sure you all know. Not so much in real life. I'm shy. But moving on. While she was trying to figure out who I was and why I'd contacted her, she read in my info that I game. (The line in my info was something like "If I'm gaming, try contacting me on LappyServ.) So she started calling me a gamer. I didn't really deny it, but (other than the info line I'd forgotten about) I couldn't figure out how she'd placed me as a gamer, so I quasi-denied it, if you get my meaning. Anyway, in the conversation she asked me if I was playing a game at that moment. despite having nothing running but the Firefox and messaging services, I told her yes, and left it at that. What remained unsaid was that I considered the conversation we'd been having a game. Not neccessarily one you can win or lose, but a game none-the-less.

I enjoy the dynamics of social networking and such. I'm shy in real life, but online, when I can be semi-anonymous and let my inhibitions free, I really like to get to know people and talk to them, etc. Also, I've found politics FACINATING from a player's point of view. From the outsiders viewpoint, there's tons of stuff wrong wtih it, but I want to be able to play politics. In short, I want to run a guild.

Maybe I'm not approaching it with the right level of seriousness, but really, Warcraft is only a game. And when I'm being a guild-leader, I'll treat it with the same seriousness I'd treat any other game. I think I've got what it takes. And what I don't have... Well, I've got 23-33 more levels till I hit the level cap (Burning Crusade will probably come out before I reach 60, but not by much if I keep my self to my schedule) and then I'll have to spend a while getting used to the endgame the way most people do. But eventually, once I've learned enough and gotten myself fully entrenched in the community, I'll start my own guild, probably for raiding, but I haven't left out the idea of starting a PVP guild on for fun on another server. That'd require starting a new character though, so.... I dunno.

ANYWAY! I've rambled long enough. Here's the bottom line.
Short Term Goals
Stick to my new schedule.
Finish school work early whenever possible.
Get a part time job.

Long Term Goals
Run a Warcraft Guild.
Graduate from college and get a fufilling job.
Have a happy life overall.
AND NO MORE LOAFING!!!

12.10.06

Special Spooky Edition

So I just noticed I'm posting this on Friday the 13th. Fun, huh? I suppose I should have some Halloween tips or something, but I've got nothing on my mind tonight about that. Just a couple random blurbs I wanted to write in before I went to sleep.

Here's how my day started off. After getting to bed late, I woke up to my alarm at 6:30. Then I went back to sleep, and when I checked my clock (actually my DS), it was 7:10. Time for me to leave for school. X_X. So I got up, rushed to get dressed, and decided that I should let the Windows Updates install so I could shut my computer down while I was off at school (something I've decided to do more and more often, so don't panic if you try to reach me and I'm not online.) That, of course, went as slow as possible, so I wasn't out the door until like 7:40, at the earliest. And, just so you know, my Japanese class on Tuesdays and Thursdays starts at 8:15. It's a 50 minute drive on a good day. And I had to stop and get gas.

So I get to the class door at 8:45, preparing myself for the embarassment of showing up thirty minutes late, when I see a little note on the door. "Class canceled. Reason: Instructor ill." Not exactly that, it was a little form thing, fill in the blanks, but that was the gist of it. Talk about a let-down.

I ended up going home and not working on any of the homework due for my other classes. I don't think tonights the night to talk about my recent lack of enthusiasm, but I'll get it off my chest sooner or later.

I had a couple of odd thoughts tonight. Before going to bed, as is my custom, I sat in front of the TV, ate a bag of popcorn, and watched recent episodes of The Daily Show and The Colbert Report on TiVo. Tonight I switched things up by playing Tetris online while doing so (Stephen's special on "Ladies" didn't have a word, so I didn't get too distracted.)

First, let me just say that the Daily Show's new feature, "THE SEAT OF HEAT," is a bad move for the show. If you don't know, they've added a section on the show with graphics and everything to ask the "one tough question" of their guest. It's a comedy show, so the questions aren't serious, but notable examples include asking Bill Clinton the one tip that would allow competitors to defeat his wife in an upcoming political campaign; having a former presidential advisor to numerous presidents choose who he would save in a boat accident, George H.W. Bush or George W. Bush; and asking the catch-phrase-less comedian David Cross what he would choose for his catchphrase. And the question asked is always funny, don't get me wrong, I'm just questioning whether, when having a semi-serious discussion with current and former heads of state and other serious figures, the graphical cheesyness is neccesary for the effect. Really, they could tone down the graphics and simply ask the ridiculous hard question. I mean, it's not like the segment alone will kill the show, but I hope it's not the start of a new trend for them.

On the DS front, I'm having an identity crisis. My screen name of choice from when I bought the system onward was "Effervescence", except it doesnt allow that many characters, so it was just "Effervesce." You can't name yourself a verb. It's just not done. So anyway, after my amazing Japanese lessons, I learned how to write my name in Hirigana. Gu-re-go-ri, more or less. So I was playing the game and noticed a bunch of other Japanese names. I figured that, since it was around midnight here, it must be players from Japan early in the morning. I honestly have no idea what the demographics are for Tetris players throughout the world. Then it hit me. How stupid must I look having an obviously American name written in Hirigana. I really am a Weeaboo. x_x So I need a new name. I just changed it over to Guregori, only written in Katakana, the Japanese alphabet for words taken from other languages. At the time I wrote my name, I only new Hirigana, so I couldnt do the Katakana version until now.

But still, I'm going to be getting online a lot more often, especially when Pokemon Diamond and Pearl come out, with Wi-Fi enabled battling and trading. And I'm not sure I want my username to be my real name, written in a language most people I'll be playing with can't read. Effervescence is too long, and hell, most people don't understand that word, either. (For the record, it means "having bubbles, or being light-hearted in nature.") I've been moving towards "Grotto." I like the word, for some reason. Not neccesarily the bodies of water named after it, but as a word, as a series of letters meant to convey meaning, I like the image produced. So if you ever run across a guy named Grotto with a level 100 Pochama (or whatever it evolves into, the giant steel penguin thing), it may just be me. Or not, who knows?

30.9.06

I Have A Mew

Okay, been about week, so I'll post. I've actually got a bit to talk about tonight. Firstly and formost, I'm in New Jersey right now. At my dad's shore house, to be specific, using my neighbor's wireless network. It's kinda tenuous at the moment, as there's only one spot where it'll work. I'm not gonna leave it on 24/7, at least to start, because I want to take it back downstairs and use it as a jukebox for me to sleep to, like I do at home. But I'll prolly bring it back up here more often than I really should, so I'll be on for all you people who really miss me. (I'm sure there's at least one of you out there.)

So why am I in New Jersey? Because of my heart. I left my heart in San Fransisco... Wait no. I've got an appointment with my Pediatric Cardiologist in Philly, and so here I am. Usually I schedule these things for the middle of the Summer, when I'm visiting my Dad, but this is the first year I got to schedule it myself, so, of course, I left it till too late, and this was the earliest appointment they could get me when I asked back in May. X_X

Oh well, a week off from school, right? YAY!... 'Cept, I still have a few assignments to get done before I get back. Nothing I can't handle, of course. An essay on how the media being run as a business affects the public in America, for instance, which'll probably end up on here when I'm done with it. Also, a couple papers discussing the literary values from short stories for English, and I've gotta get farther into my story for Screenwriting.... Sigh, tis hard, and really, not much fun to talk about. I'd rather be doing them than telling you about them, so, moving on...

What else is there to do while I'm here? It's the beach, yes, but its also October, so fuck that. Well, here, take a look at what all I did today. After getting in at 11:30 last night, I made it to the house with Dad at around 2, and quickly set up for sleep. I woke up for nine, though, and the true adventure began. After a quick shower and getting dressed (THERE'S NO HEAT IN THIS HOUSE!!!!), I started to hunt around for a wireless connection to check up everyone and get logistics for today setup. I'd had a general plan that I wanted things done today, I just had to get the specifics down first and, as usual, I'd waited till the last minute. I got online eventually, by 10, and started making plans. And Maps. One thing about making plans in an area you aren't entirely familiar with: bring a map with you. It will help immensely.

Ah, but all this planning, what for? Why, you saw the title, guys. I was getting me a Mew, of course. Yes, the Legendary Pokemon Mew. As part of a promo for the newest Straight-To-DVD Pokemon Movie, Toys-R-Us stores across the country were given game boy games filled with Mews to trade to customers. And I wanted me some of that. Mmmm.... the sweet smell of the legit Mew.

While in line with my friends, we debated the philosophy of Pokemon collecion. My friend raised a good point: there's nothing waiting in the line got you that you couldn't rig up with a Game Shark. But, I countered, even if the Game Boy game didn't know, I would have known, and that made a difference to me. Besides, who is he to play God with these creatures, and summon them forth at will? Hmmph. So, I officially have a Mew now. Originally he was owned by a trainer named "Mystry", either after the "Mysterious Dungeon" series, or the movie, "Lucario and the Mystery of Mew." All the reference materials for the give-away (trade) listed him as "The Mysterious Mew" in big bold font and capitol letters. I find the Mystry name puzzling, because I got it from a trainer named Red, being the employ at Toys R Us (she thought it was funny that I'd nicknamed my Magikarp for trade "NOT MEW"), but still, it's cool. Nice and healthy, too. Here are it's level 10 stats.

H P: 42
ATK: 28
DEF: 26
SAT: 27
SDF: 26
SPD: 23
I've actually decided to get semi-serious about training up a battling team, ever since I met the other guy in Japanese class who plays too, and wants to battle me during the breaks. Here's an idea of what I'm gonna go for:
Magneton: Thunderwave, Thunder, Rain Dance, Substitute
Groudon: Flamethrower, Solarbeam, Earthquake, Overheat
Vaporeon: Surf, Ice Beam, Bite, Haze
Snorlax: Rest, Sleeptalk, Earthquake, Hyperbeam
Skarmory: Spikes, Roar, Drill Peck, Steel Wing
Mewtwo: Psychic, Recover, Ice Beam, Shadow Ball
That Mewtwo may be Mew, depending on how his stats turn out when he reaches Mewtwo's level. Also, these are all preliminary lists, but I'm confident that I can arrange them all right, without any major breeding (exception: Skarmory needs to be bred with Drill Peck). That said... I like it.

It's rough, though. I know just enough about Pokemon teams to be dangerous to myself. It's like how I was in Magic. I know enough tech to be the best in my play group, but I'm still a random n00b to the really good players, leaving me with pretty much no one to play with. I dunno, the guy in Japanese class (Joshua) seems pretty on the ball about it, so maybe I'll end up starting a battle group with him or something.

The next generation of Pokemon game is Wi-Fi Internet enabled for battling and trading. I'm trying to decide how that will work out. I think that Nintendo COULD offer a semi-pro tournament series of sorts, with the winners getting Surfing Pikachus, Shiney pokemon, or Legendary pokemon or something. The problem as I forsee it, as Derek pointed out, is Game Sharks. If anyone can just will into being a degenerate team of do-everything 00bers, then the competitions will simply devolve into "who is luckiest of the Sharkers?" No one wants that. I can see possibly a series of tests, with a shifting metagame as Nintendo dictates it: A season of Multibattles, or the best team of Water types or something, with legends being disallowed. (Most people do this already: The only reason I put them in my team is because Josh and I are okay, since we both know we aren't being artificially degenerate to each other.) But yeah, along with a high potential for artifially created Pokemons dominating any possible international tournament scene, I can see a future of Pokemon being sold on ebay for trade.
For sale: Lot of seven (7) female Eevees. One for each evolved form. Evolve as you will, breed to your heart's content. Reserve set at $35.
There is one last comment I had about my Mew. I can't nickname him, because I got him in a trade. These are the rules, theoretically to preserve the "special" name that Pokemon's first owner gave him. Okay, I understand that rule. But on another note, the Legendary Pokemon shouldn't be able to be nicknamed. Think about it. Let's look at Mewtwo, for instance. He's a unique Poke`mon, the only one of his kind. He was named Mewtwo because he was a clone of the original Mew. So... That is his species, but it is also his name. You wouldn't say "I caught a Mewtwo." You'd say "I caught the Mewtwo," or more appropriately, just "I caught Mewtwo." That is his nickname, so to speak. The closest real world equivilant I can think of here is gods and godesses. See, a lot of the unique Pokemon are like gods to the people living in that world. So imagine if, for whatever reason, people had the ability to capture spirits or whatever and use them in competition. And it was possible to capture and train the essense of Zeus, say. But there is just one Zeus. (Shut your pie hole, Jupiter.) You can't capture a Zeus. You capture the Zeus. You can't say, "I caught Zeus up on Mount Olympus, then nicknamed him Lightning." See my point?

Mmmm... Sacrelicious. I'm tired now, going to sleep in this freezing house. Later on I'll publish my thoughts on the new Magic set Time Spiral. In the mean time, aside from sleep, homework, and doctors visits, I've got to see a man about some Poke... mans.

24.9.06

*Cue Creepy Music*

The narrator seems really emotionally invested in this, a sure sign of bias, but, to paraphrase an episode of House I can't seem to find the quote from right now, "When there's an injustice going on, the right course of action is not to be sitting around calmly discussing it. The right course of action is to be screaming about it at the top of your lungs." I'm not a screamer myself, so I'll let this guy do it for me.

So last night was Time Spiral. Set is crazy, yo. Up two three rares in a pack, if you're lucky (One regular rare, one "Timeshifted" reprint card replacing a common., and then a foil that replaces another, if you're lucky enough to get a foil. And the set is strong. Rediculously so. I'm in love. I'm gonna start building a type two deck over my vacation, I think. Maybe not completely, cuz I don't know where all my cards are. Maybe I should start now, actually.... hrmm.

But yeah, if you have the opportunity, play Time Spiral. It is the best Magic set in a good long while.

14.9.06

Full Of Hot Air

Two little things that came up in my mind today, that I wanted to share. First off, I need a plushy Snorlax. It would rock.

And the other thing: has anyone ever called Paris Hilton and her ilk "Heir Heads?" (Note: it doesn't show up well in text, but the word "heir" is pronounced "air".) It seems like a good fit for them. If no one else has claimed it before, I do now. Anyone calling someone an Heir Head owes me a penny.

One last thing before I go. The little guy to the right is named Pochama. He's gonna be the water-type starter for the next version Pokemon games. He is a penguin. The fire type is a monkey, and the grass-type is a cute lil' turtle, but I've gotta go with the penguin for my Pokemon beatings of choice. If I get enough spaces in the game, I'm nicknaming him Chilly-Willy. Water, Ice, and Flying moves all at once? All he needs is Thunderbolt and he's my favorite Pokemon ever.

Gotta catch em all, eh?

13.9.06

Big Yellow Taste

While working last night I came across some interesting thoughts. I will share them for you now.

First off, I saw a box of Corn Pops cereal that read
BIG YELLOW TASTE
SWEET PUFFED CRUNCH
What does yellow even TASTE like? I mean, I know I have a smelling disablity, but a yellow taste seems like something I would have heard about somewhere else. Also, how can a taste be big? Or maybe they're referring to the color, but I doubt YELLOW can be big. The mind boggles.

Moving on, one of my favorite stops while cleaning up the store is the Superheroes Aisle (I'm gonna miss that part of the night... or not x_x). It's got all the Transformers figures, which is cool when they restock the shelves with new stuff, but that only happens like once every month or two, and the rest of the time it's just boring night after night. But I digress. I was near the Spider-Man toys when I noticed that we had two figures that were NEARLY identical, but not quite. One had 33 points for articulation, the other had 28. Also, the coloration was slightly off. I had to check it out. My inner geek-child commanded me.

It turned out that the 28-point figure was Classic Spider-Man, the web-slinger we all know and love. 33-point Spidey was the House Of M varient. For those of you who may not know, House Of M was a Mini-series of sorts throughout the entire Marvel Universe. In it, The Scarlet Witch, a powerful mutant with reality-altering powers, changes the world so that Mutants, not Humans, are the dominant species. The effects of the change were felt in all branches of the Marvel Universe, from the X-Men to DareDevil and The Fantastic Four to, of course, Spider-Man. In the new world, Peter Parker retains his radioactive spider-powers, as well as his Human status, which now puts him in the minority, and discriminated against. Luckily, Spider-Man's powers are odd enough that he can pass for a Mutant. Still, I ended up fantasizing about the climactic moment where Magneto senses the metal in Spidey's web-shooters, exposing him for the fraud he is. Of course, I never read the book, so I don't know how it all turned out. Just me being fan-boyish.

On a related note, try pronouncing Spider-Man as though it were a Jewish last name, like Goldman or something. I've been spelling it Speiderman, actually. It sounds funny.

The House of M story arc was (and still is, really) followed by the Marvel Civil War event. My mind wandered here after pondering Spiderman as a Mutant. The Civil War is a clash between superheroes over the newly passed Superhero Registration Act. Think the Mutant Registration act they talked about in the X-Men movies, only bigger, applying to all superpowered vigilantes or what have you. The civil war is between those who agree with the law, including Iron Man and Spider-Man, and those who disagree, lead by Captain America.

So, this all leads to my prediction. The Civil War event will be the basis for a Spider-Man / X-Men Crossover Motion Picture. In order for this to happen, several events must first occur.

1. The X-Men movies must recover. X-Men #4 will show the rebirth of Prof. Xavier, as hinted at the end of the picture, and Magneto's powers regained in full. The actual story of the movie is irrelevant, so long as it is popular. Possibly, a movie adaptation of the House of M arc (where Rogue could get her powers back), though something with Apocalypse or any other number of story lines I don't know about are fine, too. The main point is that there needs to be an X-Men 4 for the crossover idea to fly, and I think that Magneto should arise as a strong opponent to the Superhero registration act, seeing it as another form of the Mutant law. I'd really like to see the interaction between Charles and Eric there.

2. Spider-Man #3 succeeds enough for a fourth to be made. The plot for Spidey 3 is pretty much set, and it doesn't mesh well with the Mega Crossover event I've got in mind. So, I need a Spidey 4 to set up the Civil war.

3. Spider-Man #4 (or maybe even some point in 3) needs to introduce the Avengers. Captain America and Iron Man, mainly, and two or three others. The story would focus on Spider-Man's inclusion into the league of elite superheroes, and set up the character relationships in the movie. He can have a "falling out" at the end of Spidey Four, I just want the characters to work together.

I'm sure there are more requirements, and I'm equally sure that this is all a pipe dream of mine that will never come to be. Ah well, que sera, sera.

One final note on that subject before I leave for work. I considered how Superman would react to the Superhero registration act. See, the thing about Superman I just got is this: To the general public, he has no secret identity. He's not a masked crime fighter who lives as a normal man. He's just Superman. He goes around looking for trouble.
Superhero Registration Form 327a
Codename: Superman
Real Name: Kal-El

Powers (check all that apply):
x Flight
x Speed
x Agility
Teleportation
x Strength
x Invulnerability
Transformation
x Laser/heat powers
x Ice/cold powers
Water powers
Electric/Magnetic powers
Technologic Enhancements
x Healing
x Breathing underwater
x X-Ray vision
x Other super senses
Telepathy/Telekenesis/Other psychic powers
x Other(please specify): I can fly around the world and make time go backwards

Birthplace: Krypton

Current Residence: Fortress of Solitude, North Pole
Or something like that. The list was a last minute introduction, with the real purpose of the form being that Superman's "True" identity is already known, so he would laugh at the idea of superhero registration, even while living life as Clark Kent.

Okay, I think I'm done for now. Later folks.

11.9.06

In Memoriam.

Internet friend (okay, some guy whos blog I read) posted his feelings about the anniversary. I'd love to agree with the sentiment, but you know my argumentative nature, and I really got on a roll. Give his post a read. Then, you can find my comment(s) down below pretty easy, they're hard to miss.

10.9.06

What's In A Name

I found this quiz, decided I liked the results. I'll let you guys decide how accurate you think they are.

G- You never let people tell you what to do.
R- Fuckin Crazy
E- Damn good kisser.
G- You never let people tell you what to do.
O- You are one of the best in bed.
R- Fuckin Crazy
Y- Freak in bed.

L- You live to have fun.
E- Damn good kisser.
V- You are not judgemental.
I- You have a fine ass
N- one of the best damn bf/gf ne one could ask for.
E- Damn good kisser.

KEY:
A- you like to drink.
B- You like people.
C- You're wild and crazy.
D- You have one of the best personalities ever.
E- Damn good kisser.
F- Ppl adore you.
G- You never let people tell you what to do.
H- You have a very good personality and looks.
I- You have a fine ass
J- Everyone loves you.
K- You are really silly.
L- You live to have fun.
M- one to have fun. one of the best damn bf/gf ne one could ask
N- one of the best damn bf/gf ne one could ask for.
O- You are one of the best in bed.
P- You are popular with all types of people.
Q- You are a hypocrite.
R- Fuckin Crazy
S- Easy to fall in love with.
T- You're loyal to those you love.but to those you dont, your a bitch.
U- You really like to chill.
V- You are not judgemental.
W- You are very broad minded.
X- You never let people tell you what to do.
Y- Freak in bed.
Z-Always ready.

I'm sure you'll all find some points to take issue with.

27.8.06

Wishes and Dreams

So I put up my wishlist blog. I'd like to say it went off without a hitch, but hitches were, in fact, involved. However, it looks like it was a problem on Blogger's end, not mine, so everything is fine now.

That said, I am left with a large empty list that needs filling, and I'm hesitant about what to put on it. I've decreed that, until Christmas, I will not buy anything I list, and I'm already kicking myself over putting the Titanium Bumblebee on there... I want it now! Maybe I'll just get two of him, since he rocks so hardcore. One MIP, the other open for display.

But that's not where the fears end. I want a Wii. I'm certain of that much. And a pre-Christmas launch is practically guarenteed. But do I want to add it to my list? What are my chances of actually getting it, when you factor in the (comparatively) hefty $250 (or thereabouts) price tag, plus the holiday rush. Everyone remembers the X-Box 360 rush, right? I'll probably have the best shot out of anyone in my family for getting one, since I work at a Target, and should have no trouble getting a hold of one as soon as they're on sale. I suppose that's what I should do, just buy it myself, and add the games and accessories to the wishlist. Of course, in any case I should wait until after I'm sure of the details of the Wii release. Plans do change, after all, and I don't wanna get stuck with a bunch of Gamecube games that I can't play yet.

I'm probably going to do better about adding books to the list, though. I was debating adding A Madman Dreams of Turing Machines, thinking that I might want to read it before the holidays, but I've decided I can wait. Oh, the artificially intelligent goodness...

Okay, I'm off to add a few touches to the list, then sleep. X_X

25.8.06

What Do I Want For Christmas?

It's Fall. Well, not technically, but pretty much. School is starting, temperatures are dropping, and not as many people are wearing swimsuits to Target anymore. So what does all this mean? It's time for me to write up a Christmas List.

Usually it's not a hard task. Just write up a list of thing I want and forward it to everyone in my family. But this year I have a couple of quandries. The first being that I think I got ONE thing off my list between both my birthday and Christmas. Not that I don't appriciate the one thing, or that I didn't get some other stuff that was pretty cool, too. It's just... I got a lot of stuff that, honestly, wasn't. I have the problem of liking Star Wars and Transformers. So, even without looking at the list (the real reason I have to get these things out early) all they have to do is look for a toy within whatever they've decided is their price range that's been branded with one of those logos and voila, I am satisfied.

...Yeah right. What am I supposed to do with a Darth Vader sprinkler? Or a half dozen Minicons from a Transformers series I never liked? Where's the video games I asked for? Or maybe the book? Or those movies? Why the hell did I get I <3 Huckabees?

Maybe I'm selfish. I mean, I dunno. Should I resist asking for things over $20? I can't really think of anything I want under that price range. Movies maybe, and the occasional Transformer. This year is actually pretty good in the Transformers front, between the Titanium series and Cybertron's toys being not so bad, so hopefully I'll get a whole bunch more of those.

Of course, the other problem I have this year that wasn't really an issue in years past is that I have a job and a paycheck. When there's something I want, I buy it. I no longer HAVE to wait until late December for things I want. This instant gratification is probably bad for me, though, beyond the obvious problem of metaphorically cutting the legs out from under my Wish List.

One other problem that just sorta hit me is: I want a few things that might not be the best things to unwrap in a family setting. Do I really wanna explain how a show about inner city black kids living in a white suburb (The Boondocks DVD set) got on my Christmas list? Or the adventures of four Japanese schoolgirls (Strawberry Marshmallow)? Or... well, lets just say my wish list is rated PG-13, and my family isn't, really.

What I think I'll do is start another blog. This one is going to be a Wish list only journal. I'll have the first post dated for Christmas of this year, keeping it on top until after the big day (and maybe moving it back every year and keeping it a running thing. I'll edit new posts with things I want and why I want them, but keep the main top post as a comprehensive list of the things I want, and release dates. I'm wondering if it would be tacky to post prices for the things I want? Probably. Anyway, I'll give you guys that link when I get it up and running. Bye for now.

24.8.06

Idle Thoughts

Wow. I was listening to Bob FM, the local "we play anything, we're like an iPod on shuffle" radio station, and The Spice Girls "Wannabe" came on. I listened to it, and, for cheesy pop, it wasn't bad. I'm not about to get their CD, or add the song to my (still pretty meager) play list, but in small doses, like once every year or so, it's okay. I think the same is true for all pop.

I have three random thoughts buzzing through my head right now. I'll get to the others in a second, but since the first is related to my opening, it gets to be first. Obviously. So yeah, speaking of pop music. I've noticed it seems to go in trends. For each time period, it all seems to mostly have the same sound, and pop music as a whole gradually shifts into differing sounds as time goes on.

So here's my question. Suppose, do to a warping of space time, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr, are all caught in a time warp while recording their first album together as the Beatles. They never become the hit sensation of the sixties, and instead emerge, well, today, with a fully completed album meant for release 40 years ago.

My question is: Would that album sell today?

Obviously, if someone re-released one of the Beatles albums today, it would sell decently, simply because of the fame and reputation the Beatles have. But in my scenario, there is no popularity, or at least, it's not theirs. They have to start from scratch, basically. Would their sound play in today's music scene? Would the class of 2010 be begging for "I Wanna Hold Your Hand" on TRL Live?

I don't really have an answer, I just thought it was an interesting question. Feel free to comment yourself.

The next item on my mind came to me while I was at work. Of all the toys we sell at Target, the Bratz dolls (dollz?) give me arguably the most ethical quandries. They are, to my mind, hyper-sexed versions of Barbie Dolls, a group of friends who's primary goal in life seems to be getting the hottest clothes and strutting them around to, supposedly, impress the Bratz Boyz. They currently come in three varieties: The normal Adult / Highschooler size, Baby Bratz, which features infants wearing clothes no parent in their right mind would actually put on a baby, and now the Bratz Kidz, which are a bit more toned down, to actually look like the target audience.

Today, though, I was struck by something. No real reason for it, but I remembered something I read in the Wikipedia article on them (hey, I was really bored). Specifically, this line.
...Yasmin (based on CEO Isaac Larian's own daughter, Jasmin)...
How creepy would that be? To know there was a doll based on you, and thosands of little girls around the world were playing with you, probably lots of little boys ripping your head of their sisters dolls, who knows how many perverts doing who knows what to you.... It would creep me out. I hope young Jasmin is okay.

Finally, a hypothetical. Suppose there was a nation with not just supposed but proven nuclear powers. AND the historically proven willingness to use them on nations they consider their enemies. This nation is lead by a group of religious zealots who believe that they are doing God's work by imposing their beliefs in the Middle East. They are a good deal of the reason that region is screwed up, in fact. In addition, they are simply a drain on the world as a whole. They use a huge amount of resources while contributing nearly nothing, and are in debt to nearly every other nation in the world. Plus, their army is kinda occupied at the time.

So basically, what I'm saying is, does anyone wanna invade the United States of America? Here's how I see it. Canada can engage the northern border. I predict that a quick strike to the north-east could take out tactical targets in New England and such. Tactical nuclear missiles launched from North Korea could proably take out military targets on the west coast before we had any real chance to react. China could probably front a large invasion army on foot, and the European Union might be able to bring in its own forces. I suppose the real target would be Washington DC, of course, so that would have to be controlled by European forces. Heck, though, every little bit counts. I'll bet Australia and New Zealand could do a good job of blockading the Hawaiian Islands, and maybe even hit Southern California. Please note, I don't advocate the targeting of civilian targets, either here or abroad. But really, we deserve it. And besides, if nothing else, it will at least help pull our troops out of Iraq.

Actually, someone told me that, if we really got invaded, they'd probably start the draft. I doubt it would help if the whole world was really after us, but I doubt they will be, so yeah... Scratch that.

14.8.06

Random Surprise Manga!

Well, I was looking for my notebook that I used as a journal of sorts while I was on break. I figured it was time to write up all that great stuff I'd written in the middle of the night while watching the Daily Show. Even on vacation, I have no life. X_X To make matters worse, I couldn't find the notebook. However, the bug has bitten, so I shall begin writing.

Whilst looking for the notebook, I found a couple of manga volumes I'd thought I'd lost. Rosen Maiden vol 1 and Kingdom Hearts vol 3. Last time I'd seen them, I'd left them in Jersey at my dad's place. Apparently PJ and Danny managed to bring them back. So now my backlog is growing. I've got those two to read (even though I already read KHv4, so yeah...) plus I'm half way through Negima vol 9, and the first sets of Strawberry Marshmallow (I hate saying that, I wish they'd kept it as Ichigo Mashimaro) and something called Q-Ko-Chan, about an alien robot girl, or some such nonsense, by the guys who did FLCL, and you can really tell. I'm pretty sure I've already talked about Negima, just look WAAAY WAAAY back for it, but Ichigo Mashimaro I might have neglected. Now that it's been localized, I've got to recommend it to everyone I know. It is absolutely the cutest series on the face of the planet, and as near as I can tell the entire purpose of it is to be cute fluff. No epic plots, no on-going drama, just light silly fluff about four elementary aged girls and the teenager who has to watch over them. Cute, not lolicon.

In other realms of media, I've gotten my hands on a few spiffy DVD's. V for Vendetta was great. I only saw it in theaters the once, and that was all it took to make me want to own it for ever and ever. I've watched it on DVD twice now, on back to back nights. Totally worth it. Ranks up there with the original Matrix movie. I've also gotten a few cartoon DVD's, as is my want. Strawberry Marshmallow vol 1 and Teen Titans season 1. I'm watching the latter now, on my brand spiffy old laptop, which has been designated my Media Machine whilst I game or surf the Internet. It's basically what I was using my 2nd monitor for when it was in a dual monitor setup, only now it doesn't take any RAM or processor power while I'm playing WoW.

So yeah, I'm up to my armpits in manga and movies. That's all cool and fun. I'm also up to my eyeballs in work. I was working like 3 days a week, max, over Summer break. Apparently, now that school's back in session, all the high schoolers are quitting, and my work week just shot from 18 hours to the full 40. X_X~ I'd prefer 20-30, honestly. Maybe something like 25, and you call me now and again to come in and pick up hours. Ah well. So I'm working five nights a week. The money isn't too bad, and I like what I do, for the most part. Better than being in food service or clothing retail.

Speaking of writing bugs (I swear I was earlier...) I wanna do another installment in my Detective Greg Series that I love so much. I have a semi-loose story idea, and some concepts I'd like to include. I'm aiming for something a tad more epic than the previous issues, and more mature, with less random sex for the purpose of random sex. Epic, and a little real romance, maybe with just a hint of yaoi. ^_^

That's really gotten to be a pet peeve of mine. Movies / stories where people fall in love just because the writer wants them too. I was watching V for Vendetta, for instance, and that's one where I could kinda see where the romance was coming from. Evey was in love with V because of Stolkholm syndrome, and V wanted vengance more than anything. But in lots of other stories, you just see them fawning over each other for no apparent reason. Is that love? Really? I mean, I can undestand it in comedies, where "love" is a plot device and not really an important factor. But for something like the Matrix, where Neo and Trinity were only in love because they said so... I dunno, it just felt off. It worked in the first one, but fell apart for the second two. So yeah, you know what I'm talking about.

So in my story, my new one, I'm gonna show some real love. Maybe writing can do it easier than film. The written word has a tendancy to be introspective, while film shows only the surface, and, when introspection is needed, only vague images are shown, a 2D interpretation of what is usually a 4D affair of the mind. The mind does not show up well on photographs, though. It can be narrated, sometimes.

Okay, my brain is pretty fried. I bid you all farewell, for now. Hopefully I can get around to actually writing this story. And if any of you wanna draw it in comic form, that might work, too. *Shrugs.*

10.8.06

Headlines - Indecision 2006

Saw this on Google news. "The Republicans will exploit Joe Lieberman's defeat by painting the Democrats as anti-military and weak on national security, say Washington observers." Just so you know, Lieberman was defeated in the senatorial primaries for the state of Connecticut (I think), by Ned Lamont. I saw Mr. Lamont on the Colbert Report, and for my money, Lieberman's defeat can be at least partially linked to the Senator's unwillingness to appear on the show following his opponent.

But the part about this that gets me is how they are using Lieberman's defeat to Lamont as a sign that the Democratic party is anti-military. See, the thing is, Lamont is an Iraqi veteran. I fail to see how voting a military man into office makes you against the military. *Shrugs.* I guess this is why I'm not in politics. Or the military. (This and hundreds of other reasons.

2.8.06

Colbert V Wikipedia

...FIGHT!

Okay, I swear I'll have some of my own content soon. Later guys.

1.8.06

Star Wars Lego Symphony


Because I haven't gotten around to writing about my trip (and yes, I am back) I thought this might entertain you guys. Enjoy.

14.7.06

Those BASTARDS!

Okay, time I spilled the beans, I guess. In addition to having a wonderful job (kinda sorta), a newly re-emerging college career (third times the charm?) and a nice two week vacation in southern California (with family, but I suppose that's not worth complaining about), I've gotten a new computer for myself.

Nothing fancy, it's pretty much this year's old bottom of the line model, but it'll beat my current laptop, and it's a desktop, so I can actually tinker with it, rather than having to plunk down a thousand bucks each time I need to upgrade something. I'm hoping that it'll be able to run World Of Warcraft better (and World of ColbertCraft, but that's not as big a concern).

Also, this'll free me up to ride my laptop a bit lighter, hopefully enabling it to be more of the portable-utility computer it was designed, rather than a 24-7 main machine. Of course, I'm still taking my laptop on vacation, but after that, I'm putting it up for a while, and letting it rest. I'll probably rest it by draining it's battery all the way down, which should be fun to watch. "Nooo help me.... Can't... turn... hard drive... or... talk... at... normal... rate... ugh."

So anyway, that's all great and stuff. But then, why haven't I already done this? Well, that's the catch. I'm sure you're all wondering how I got it. I mean, being the penniless no-gooder I am, I can't afford to buy $400 computers at the drop of a hat. I buy $40 DVD box sets at the drop of a hat. (Oh boy, I loves me some House M.D.) So where'd it come from? It's a long story, which I shall retell now, because I like telling stories, the longer the better.

Last Friday I was awoken by my mom. I was needed for babysitting duty again. I got to tag along with her to keep her company while her mom and mine go do adult things like shop at Hobby Lobby. It doesn't help me with MY hobbies. Luckily, the Toys'R'Us across the street does, so I take Clara in there, and, despite my money-hemmoraging ways, I manage to keep from buying anything, and so does the three-year-old that's NOT me. Well, that's something of a bum trip, but it's still better than going to Hobby Lobby and not buying anything.

So, after a good half-day of shopping, we ended up going to Michael's, which is another hobby store, so by everyone, I mean everyone but me. I elected to visit the nearby Best Buy. Clara decided to stay with the ladies because last time she visited Best Buy someone (okay, it was me, accidentally) left an iPod on too loud and people started yelling in an episode of 24. So now she's scared of the place, and I got to go alone. After about 10 minutes of browsing I saw that they have pretty much the same titles for movies and games I didn't want last time I was there, about a week or two earlier. Having no new software to check out, I decide to go look at the hardware.

Lemme preface this by saying that I'm much more of a software guy than hardware. I value content over substance, if that makes any sense. You could have all the technological advances in the world, but if you just use it to show Christian Moral Pagents from the 14th century, or play Pong in high definition, I could care less. That's why I didn't really care for the Star Wars Special Edition edits, for one thing. They didn't add anything but fluff to the story (and giving Greedo the appearance of a complete twit, instead of just a halfwit, by letting him shoot first and miss and point blank range).

That said, the hardware didn't really impress me. I went and looked at the new Blu-Ray DVD player. Okay, so now the pictures a little clearer. Maybe I need new glasses, but I don't really see the difference there. So all I was looking at was a shiny box hooked up to a TV. Not really interesting, especially considering the only movie I'd consider buying for it is Underworld 2. So I moved on, and started browsing the computers. I saw the high end one I wanted, for about $600 without a monitor, and since I've already got a monitor, I'm good on that front. But I walked around a bit and see that they got even cheaper, and if I knocked out the extra bits I don't want or need, like hard drive space or memory card readers, and focus on the good stuff, like RAM and video cards, I would be able to save a bit. So I found the bugger, and it's $350 apx. That's about $300 more than I have to spend, but I decide that I'd been a good guy, and I deserved a treat. So when Mom arrived to fetch me, I put on my sad puppy face and showed her the one I wanted. I figured I'd go for broke, since I was already there, and if that didn't work I'd ask for the West Wing or House on DVD, or maybe just a PS2 game if that failed.

Anyway, I showed her the one, and she asked me, "What are you gonna do for it?" I replied that I'd get great grades in school the next semester. She apparently thought that was fair, with one caveot. I had to apply to ACC before I could hook it up. That sounded fair enough, it takes maybe a half hour to sign up no problem. We get it, and then I hop online right away to find.... The site said Fall Registration wouldn't open until the 14th. I had to wait a week, and even then, I was going on vacation right afterwards, so I wouldn't get to test out my new box until the very end of the month when I get back. And so I decided, okay, I'll just apply at midnight and have it set up before I leave in the morning.

Which brings me to why I'm writing this now. This page shows that I probably won't be able to apply until some time in a week or two. X_X. Oh well, either way I'm still getting to use it after vacation, so yay me!

Okay, end of story. I've figured out how to include movies in images, I think. Gimme a second here. Okay, check this out.


Nifty lil' gif, eh? You can click it to bring it up on it's own, if you want. Then do me a favor. Save it
then save it again, as a .rar, and see what that does.

Edit: FUCK! Blogger saved it as a PNG? Why!? Ah, how am I supposed to show you guys my cool animated gif's now? Hrmmm... I'm sure I'll solve this dilemma at a later date. For now, though.... Just ask me and I'll send you the picture over AIM.

I am full of tricks, I am.

And just so I don't forget: "copy /b KHCOM.gif + haunted.rar haunted.gif"... I'll let you google that up and see what you get. Hehehe.

13.7.06

Ted Stevens and Other Ramblings

I found this movie, and thought you might get a kick out of it.

By the way, I have the full audio of his speech somewhere, so I'll just upload it. I especially love hearing all the people listening in the background, "...oh my god..." Please, PLEASE, someone tell me that someone stood up to correct this guy's ramblings. I don't like the idea that the Senate took this guy's word for how the Internet works and now thinks that their ones and zeroes are flying through a series of tubes.

Moving on, the other day I ended up reading a blog post pertaining to the status of the current "console wars" and where they are today. He rated the X-Box on top, followed by the PS2, with Gamecube on the bottom. He followed that up by saying that he thinks the 360 is gonna stay on top, with Wii's weirdness landing it a middle spot and the PS3's enormous pricetag acting like cement boots. Here's my counter-argument, copied and pasted cuz I'm lazy, but I felt it was good enough to be seen by a few more people than the guy's personal blog. Plus I like taking credit for my work. PLUS PLUS I haven't put much on here recently, and I feel bad for it. See you on the other side.

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I'll have to admit I really don't care which system wins the "console wars". I don't buy my games based on who has the biggest market share. I pick the games I want to buy, and buy the hardware to play them. I own a PS2 because I wanted to play PS2 games, not because I wanted to be the coolest kid on the block. In fact, I didn't buy one for myself until pretty much just before the 360 was right around the corner. I don't see myself as that far out of the general population. Buy the system you want, not just because someone else tells you to get it. I also wanna say I disagree with your ranking, personally. That is, for the current generation, pre-360. ("How the hell did I miss X-Boxes 2-359?!") For me, it stacks up with the PS2 on top, then GBA, then Cube, then X-Box. For my purposes, DS and PSP are "next gen", mostly cuz I'm too lazy to add them to my chart. Wanna know why I feel this way? Cuz I like playing the games I have on my PS2. Kingdom Hearts I and II are two of the greatest games I've ever played, and I don't care if your party consits of a duck with a speech impediment or a retarded dog. That's half the charm. The other half comes from an inspiring storytelling experience. That's the kind of games I like to play. The ones that play out as long, involved visual novels. Movies that are too in depth to be put in a theater. You can't grow to care about your the characters in a 3 hour movie the way you can when you've actually played AS that character for 40+ hours. I see it as the next step in storytelling, the next representation of myth for society, and I'm not waiting for Nintendo or Microsoft to play catch up. After that, I go to Nintendo for my relaxation games, the ones that are just plain stupid. You're an Italian plumber rescuing the princess of the mushrooms from an evil band of turtle people? Makes sense enough to me. Wanna go out and catch some monsters and have them fight, see who's the best, and, oh yeah, maybe fight some crime along the way? Sure, when I'm not busy. HOLY FUCK! BRICKS DROPPING FROM THE SKY! MAKE THEM GO AWAY! Yeah, while I'm waiting at the dentist.* Stuff like that. X-Box (and the 360, while we're on the subject), as I see it, really gets style points for online play. They have the most cohesive, sophisticated online plan availiable, and if something like that appealed to me, I'd totally have an X-Box. But I don't wanna pay $300 plus $10 a month to play Halo and Halo 2 against people who are way better at it than me, and will scream over their microphones about how much I suck while we're playing. If you're into online play, go for an X-Box. If you're into video games, get a Cube or Station. Obviously, there's some blend there, and always will be, but thats how I see the breakdown.

As for the future, like I've said, the 360's strong point as a system is it's online plan. Again, that's not a real draw point for me, and it also confounds me why the "killer app" for the system is currently Oblivion (though I think people are realizing that it's a much better experience on the PC, which makes the top 360 game some crap shit on Live Arcade). Wii strikes me as innovative in the way that the DS has been. And I love the DS. Wii seems to be an attempt to use the same touch screen-style gameplay, only on a console. You can't get people to buy a 36" Touch Screen TV? Fudge it, use a motion sensitive remote. You can't get people to link two screens together for dual screen play? Fudge it... I dunno what they're gonna do, but I'll bet that either they have a way around it, or (and this is really my theory here) the "Dual Screen" aspect of the DS was simply set up because they new you couldn't see through your hand while operating a touch screen, thus nessesitating the need for another screen. It's easier to see a TV when you're waving in front of it. No need for another screen. Sony, though, well... the PS3 is shrouded in mystery and expensive. I have no idea what's in store for that aside from a Sonic the Hedgehog title which is now apparently multi-platform and a pricetag of an arm, a leg, and that pony I wanted for Christmas when I was 5. I'll prolly have a better idea on whether I want a Wii (the black sheep of the next-gen-ers) by the new year, and I'll decide on a 360 or PS3 once the market settles down and both platforms have their lineup of exclusive "must-haves".

I do wanna comment on the Blu-Ray, though. As near as I can tell, Blu-Ray and HD-DVD are both off to the races, so to speak. I could, for a substansial investment, have a player for either (or both) disk format if I wanted. Personally, I'm fine sticking to DVD for now, and probably will be for a good long time. However, I think it's worth noting that the 360 is supporting HDDVD through an ADD ON player, while Sony's machine plays the movies right out of the box. I have to wonder whether MS could pump out a Blu-Ray player add on as well, should the market demand. Moving on, though, I've heard tell that the PS2's feature as a DVD player (again, right out of the box) was a key componant to the format's growth. Granted, nothing was competing with DVD at the time (LASERDISK?!) so DVD's success was a given, but the PS2 arguably helped the success along earlier, by giving people a valid excuse to put a DVD player in their home. I believe that could help Sony win the Blu vs HD wars. Most people won't go out to buy a dedicated machine to play the new formats right away, and that includes the Add on for the 360 (all it does is play movies we can already get on DVD? Screw that...) But, if, for instance, you already bought a PS3 because you just hadda play Kingdom Hearts 3, you may look twice next time you're in Blockbuster. "Hey, while we're buying Underworld 2 anyway, let's get it on BluRay instead, and see what all the fuss is about."

And either way, I doubt BluRay support will DOOM the PS3 unless I missed the press release that says that BluRay disks are made of Kryptonite-plated Gold, and cost $300 a piece. So you've got a system that can't play any movies you own. Whoopdie doo. How many movies have you watched in the NES Cartrige Format? NCF VIDEO WILL RISE AGAIN! The same thing applies to the PSP. Everyone thought the UMD was a stupid idea, and as a media format, as in, a way to watch movies, it really is. But I have to admit it's probably the best format I can think of for playing PSP games. UMD Movies may have failed, but there is still a market for UMD Games. The same will be true should Blu-Ray fail as a movie format. There will still be a market for Blu-Ray games.

And if not, they can just put PS3 games on Multiple DVD's.

------

There we are. In other news, I felt the storytelling bug yet again at work recently. I dunno why, but I decided to try telling myself (if that makes any sense) the Pied Piper of Hamelin. While I was busy zoning. It was nice to get my mind on something for a while. I enjoy storytelling, and while I hope I can do something more with it, I'd like to at least be able to tell my children bedtime stories. Maybe read them one or two (or more, cuz reading is good, too), but at least every once in a while, make one up, either off the top of my head. Sorta like this.

Eh... I dunno. I gotta pack. I'm going to San Diego tomorrow, so I have to pack. I'm gonna use my time in the city to track down Carmen, and find out what they call people from San Diego. San Diegans? San Diegites? Sandiegers? \o/

27.6.06

Momma's, Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be Gods of War

So, as many of you know, I work in the electronics department at Target. Today they were on my case about getting a red card, which is making someone sign up for a Target Visa. I hate doing that, it always makes me feel like such a tool to try and sell people a credit card. But I did end up helping out every guest I could find, and that does always make me feel good. One family in particular was worth noting here, though.

Brother (10) and Sister (8) were looking at the video games. Sister couldn't find one that she really wanted, but Brother had already grabbed God of War and was holding it under his arm, ready to go. I had to admit, it's a good game, and a great deal now that it's gone Greatest Hits, but my morality made me remind the boy "You're gonna need to get your mother to OK that, you know." He knew, apparently, and seemed confident that she'd get it. Ah well, I think, I don't know everybody's age by looking at them.

A few minutes later, Sister has picked out her game (Spiderman 2), Mom's arrived with the money, and everyone's ready for me to check them out. While it's not really neccessary, since neither of the games are locked, I love running the register for video games. I always get interesting small talk, especially from parents with differing perspectives on gaming. So, while I'm going around the register and logging in, I start off with a semi-obligatory comment to Mom: "You know why that game's rated M, right?"

"No, I guess not, not really."

"Well, you can check on the back, down here..." I point, and Brother grabs the game and rattles off the list at lightning quick speeds, hoping maybe he won't get caught.

"Rated M for BloodAndGoreIntenseViolenceNuditySexualThemesStrongLanguage." It really sounded like he was mumbling around the word "Nudity".

Apparently responding to the charge of the Strong Language, Sister chirps with a "We can just turn the volume down for those parts." Yeah, I think, that'll help. Heh.

"Wow," stammers Mom. "I guess M4 is pretty bad, huh?"

Uhhh, I think. "No, that's 'M FOR', Eff Oh Are."

"It's okay," Brother semi-pleads, still confident he's mature enough to handle BloodAndGoreIntenseViolenceNuditySexualThemesStrongLanguage. "It's not really that bad."

Mother wasn't quite listening the first time through, and gets Brother to repeat the list again. She had contacts, apparently, and couldn't read the tiny warning. This time he's even quieter, faster, and with less letters.

"BludnGorIntenseVilnceNudtySex'lThemeStrngLnguge."

Mom is now curious. "What does that mean, 'Sexual Themes.'"

I know my cue. I'd been considering how to describe the "Rated M-ness" of the game since I first saw it in Brother's hand. Comparing it to the Big News that was the Hot Coffee scandle, which is nowhere near as bad as God of War. Maybe, I think, the reason people were so upset wasn't the content so much as the fact that it was hidden in GTA. From there my mind wandered to the more recent events with Oblivion's Nudity Mod, and the concept of Modding in general, going back to my days of patching in Barney over Doom demons.

I don't have time to give this woman the full college lecture on the subject. Better to go for the direct punch.

"There's a bit of toplessness. It's really pretty blatant, really. I mean, after a you beat a level, you go back to his bedroom, and there's a pair of concubines there..."

"WHAT?!" Mom interrupts. Aww, and I didn't even get to the DDR sex minigame.

She's screaming at Brother, now. Not really screaming, actually. You could tell that's what she was thinking though. Her actual words were a very stern, "I don't think so..." I would have been worried if she'd said anything less, personally. So, Mom and Brother go off to look for a (much) more suitable game. As I check out Sister's copy of Spiderman 2, I chuckle as I see Brother try to convince Mom with what appears to be another M title, probably GTA. Not today, Brother. I do feel a little sorry for him, though, when he walks out empty handed.

A couple of asides: First, Spiderman 2 is rated T, so definitely older than sister's range. Yet I sold her the copy, without so much as a peep. First, the T isn't for BloodAndGoreIntenceViolenceNuditySexualThemesStrongLanguage, just for a little comic-book violence, as opposed to strictly adult themes. I definitely heard an OK from Mom, too. In my view, and when parent's ask me if the game is alright for kids, I have this advice about movie games. If you thought the movie was OK for them, the game probably will be, too. It's the same content. The only concievable difference is in controlling the action as opposed to just watching. I'd be surprised if Sister HADN'T seen Spiderman 2, and really, what's wrong with your child emulating a character who's motto is "With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility"? Besides, Spidey never kills anyone. Doesn't even shoot. He just webs them up and leaves them for the cops.

Secondly, I might have been okay with GTA. That is, I'm not gonna make MY kid wait till he's 17 to play Vice City. If you ask me, GTA is an older teen game, but the subject matter really seems like something a 15 year old would consider amusing. That's not to say that adults can't enjoy it on the same level, or more. Just that, to my eyes, the sexual content of GTA was the kinda stuff I was joking about with my friends in middle school. GTA is rated M for it's violence alone. God of War is rated M for being as close to AO as possible without being the real deal.

Okay, I've gotta get up in the morning. I've gotta see some sort of Man about making a Return which may or may not be Super.

26.6.06

Killing With Kindness

I'm happy to report the rumors of my death have been vastly exaggerated. On the other hand, so have the rumors of rumors of my death, so there you go. It's been a month, just about. I swear I've been meaning to post. It just kept slipping my mind. I'm at level 28 now in Warcraft, so I'll bet that's got something to do with it. Good news is that Target seems to only want me 2 days a week. It's a really fucking crappy schedule. I'll have to start saying "Yes" when they call me in for extra help.

But that's neither here nor there. I saw something on the Colbert Report tonight that got me thinking about hostages. How would I react if I was ever taken prisoner. If someone held a gun to my face, my initial responce is something along the lines of "I'm prepared to die. Are you prepared to kill?" Philosophical shit like that, see if I can stir them up. Even if I don't say it out loud, out of the fear that maybe he IS prepared to kill, I'll be thinking it. Don't get me wrong, I don't WANT to die. I'd honestly rather not. But if that's where I'm headed, and there's nothing I can do, I'm cool with it.

Really, I think I'd enjoy being a prisoner. I mean, not like, "sign me up, I'm ready." But like, if I was a prisoner, I'd make the most of it. I'd see what I could get read. I'd talk to the guards and get on their good sides. I'm a very likable person, and I believe that everyone at their core wants to be liked, too. It comes with being a social creature. So if I just get the other person to not think of me as their enemy, but as a real person, my times will go a lot smoother. Chatting up the guards MAY be difficult, though. They tend to do stuff like pistol whip you when you talk while marching and stuff. Maybe I'd hum or something. And, say, if I got too chmmy with the guards, I'd get stuck with the guy who didn't speak English, to keep me from being treated nicely. I have ways around that, too, though.

I have this image of me in a dirty cell in Iraq or whatever (possibly the Democratic People's Republican Kingdom of Carbomia), with the guard outside being gruff and silent. The conversation goes something like this:
Me: Hey, you must be new here. I'm Greg. Nice to meet you. What's your name?
Him: (A single word barked as an order in whatever his native language is. Probably something like "Quiet!" I'll know that one by this point. More than likely, he'll just harumph to himself and keep quiet, cuz his superiors warned him about me.)
Me: Not much on names, eh? That's okay, I'll just call you Rob for the time being. It's been a while since I talked to a Rob. That sound okay?
Him: (Same as before: stoic)
Me: So Rob, whatcha do for fun? You play any sports? Soc- er, football? Follow the World Cup maybe? ... Read any good books? Seen any movies?
Him: (The silence continues.)
Me: Hey, did you guys get Pirates of the Carribian over here? Swashbuckling pirates? Sounds like you're kinda stuff... And that Kiera Knightly is some hot stuff, eh?
(At this point I am just talking to keep myself amused, not even thinking he was listening, and thus the next line surprises me...)
Him: Ki-Kiera Nituhly?
Me: Ah, you've heard of her, I take it. Nice looking lady, eh? (I elaborate with a stereotypical "hourglass figure" motion of the hands.)
Him: (Gibberish, cuz I'm no linguist, but I get the general idea of "Yeah".)
Me: Yeah, that's another thing I haven't seen in a while. Been away from home too long. Speaking of which, who do you local boys have your eyes on?
Him: (Confusion, he still doesn't speak English)
Me: (Motioning to myself) America... Kiera Knightly. (Motioning towards him) Carbomia...?
Him: (Catching the drift, he fills in the name of whatever local star he fancies.
Me: (Attempt to say the name, the way he tried out Kiera's.) Nope, can't say I've heard of her. She been in any movies? (Hitting another language barrier, I make another simile - Kiera Knightly is to Pirates of the Caribbean as the Carbomian chick is to... After he fills in the blank, I continue.) I've never seen that. Do you think you could get me a TV to watch it? (More exaggerated miming, this time pointing to my eyes and slowly saying "WATCH")
So yeah, at that point, I've got a movie buddy, and even though we don't speak English, I'm pretty definitely on his good side. Yay diplomacy.

And now, cuz I feel like it, a random picture for you all.

1.6.06

My Mind Is Reeling

Racing, really. I've got ideas out the wazoo. I've had half-completed stories surfacing on a near daily basis, getting into tiny swordfights with the half-completed stories I've already started on but, again, have not yet completed. I've had a rant going on in my head about how Magneto makes an interesting character from multiple perspectives. Along the way the Constructicons merged into that one, something about their dis-jointed nature of creation and destruction, and while I'm at that I might as well go on and do a little write up on every other childhood villian and how I think they "break the mold". No time for that, of course, but the ideas on Lencher and Devastator are good. Just tonight I got the idea for an experiment in how the MySpace community works, and whether or not a fictional person, completely foriegn to the world outside of MySpace, can be linked into their artificial community and generate her own fan base soley from the on-site presence. I've got a counter-idea that says that me mentioning the idea on this blog devoids the project, saying I don't make it ambiguous enough, but I suppose it's too late for that. I've had other thoughts, and though at the moment I've lost them, I'm sure they'll resurface, and you'll hear me whine about how I don't have enough time for them either.

I'm leaving for New Jersey this Friday. Depending on how you look at it, that's tomorrow. I have no idea what I'll do about that. I'm not packed. I have paperwork to get to ACC so that I can eventually persue academia once more, with hopefully more success this time around. This is retarded. I have a to-do list on my computer that has been empty since I reformatted, and hadn't been updated since last year even before that. I should really be using it. Instead, I spend my time bitching like this, and intermittantly looking for Lilo and Stitch wallpapers. Sigh. I really do need a vacation. From a lot of things. I'm so glad my dad doesn't have wireless at his house in PA, and I don't believe its at his shorehouse either. I'm gonna take a break from the Internet.

My computer won't run DVD's, oddly enough, so my plan to watch the West Wing over my break may have hit a snafu. I think I'll read instead. As for my computer, I'm probably going to leave it at home. Despite this, a statistical anomaly will occur. By the end of the month, this site will have posts dated for the days I was gone. I'll accomplish this using the high-tech device known as a notepad and pen. More news on these staggering technologies as they are developed. But yeah, I'm gonna sit on the porch after sunset and write about what's on my mind. Stream of consciousness stuff. Like this, only hand written, and then edited because I'm self-conscious. So, stream of selfconsciousness, I guess.

I'm gonna go to sleep now. So I won't be online starting... Well, I guess probably tomorrow afternoon, if not sooner. Let's say now, why not?

31.5.06

RE: Away Message

In case you missed the reference I've got in an away message, here's a hint:



Okay, now I'm really off to bed. I swear. Once I get moving towards my bed, no force on Earth can stop me.

...Bitch.

MY EYEBALLS ARE MELTING!!!

OH MY GOD THIS IS HORRIBLE!!!

Okay, they're not melting. But I'm tired. And they have actually started to go sore. And this is before I started tinkering with the window transparency feature I love so much. *Shrugs.*

BTW, I rediscovered my love of transparent windows for my computer. Yay transparency.

Okay, I'm retardedly tired now. Gnight folks.

30.5.06

500 Miles

Never before have I been able to find my exact feelings expressed in a WoW video clip:



Now, this is not to say that my girlfriend is a troll. Far from it. She's an elf! And I know for a fact that she loves the feign death ability. ^_^

For the Alliance!

29.5.06

X-Men Musings

i'll clean this tomorrow. 2 things now:

1. mutants ARE dangerous.

2. magneto had the anti cure.

back to the movie.

------------

So that brings us to today. Look! I can type better on here. Lemme clear up what I meant by my earlier comments there.

1. One of the central issues to the first X-Men first movie, and a recurring theme throughout the series in all its varying medias, is the discrimination against mutants by the general public. Many allusions and parallels are drawn between that discrimination and the historical persecution of Jews, Blacks, Christians, Gays, etc. However, I can see one important difference between those historical discriminations and the one mutants face. Mutants, or at least, some mutants, pose a danger to themselves or others. Obvious examples include any of the countless mutants whose powers have an infinite number of violent reprocusions, from Pyro's flame manimpuation, to Cyclops' optic blasts, to Rogue's life-stealing touch.

To say these mutants are not dangerous is foolish. I'm not saying that they are all morally decrepid enough to use these powers to harm others blatantly, but the fact that a normal-enough looking person could theoretically look at me and crush my heart simply by thinking about it would scare me, too. I think that mutants should be registered, if only to have a list of their varying abilities kept, for identification purposes. In X3, a "slippery slope" is mentioned, and I would also agree that we should be cautious ot avoid such a slope. Mutants should not be viewed as second class citizens, or superior to normal humans. They should not be segregated or persecuted based on the way they are pysically, or anything else beyond the content of their character. Numbers should not be burned into their skulls, or anything nearly as draconian. But someone should be able to keep tabs on who they are and what they can do. In that reguard, at least, Senator Kelly was right in that regaurd.

2. For those of you who haven't seen the first X-Men movie, or any of you who may have forgotten it, the basic plot was that Magneto had developed a way to trigger mutations in normal Homo Sapiens. He was unaware that the unnatural mutations were dangerous to those exposed, and lead to Senator Kelly's death. His "master plan", as it was, was to mutate the leaders of the world, convieniently gathered in one spot for a summit. In theory, and from his point of view, it was a good idea. If the leaders of the world are mutants, they will be more lenient and favorable towards the mutant populations of their respective countries. Killing them wasn't part of the plan at all.

Anyway, and again for those of you unfamiliar with the details of X-Men 3, the central plot revolves around a pharmecutical company that has developed a CURE for mutant-ism. That is, a way to turn mutants into normal people. I find these diametrically opposed plotlines, between 1 and 3, interesting. First off, just about 3 for a moment, I was a bit shocked to see so many characters lose their powers. Aside from the countless extras lined up for the cure, we saw several main characters lose their "gifts". I won't spoil it for those of you who haven't seen it, but I can't help feel that, should an X-Men 4 be released, Magneto's "Mutant Radiation Machine" would be put to good use.

SPOILERS IN GREY

Another thing I found interesting was the way they hinted that the power loss was not in fact permenant. If you look at the very end, and see Eric sitting by himself playing chess, the piece at least appears to wiggle, the same way the outline of a phoenix was just barely visible before the very end of X2. This implies that all three of our recently debilitated mains (Rogue, Magneto, and Mystique) will be back and mutant again in a future picture. (Also, why the hell was "Marie" in the mansion after losing her powers. She's not an X-Man. Go home, bitch.) It also raises the potential for Rogue's power to be a little bit less extreme than they were. As in, rather than dropping her victims into comas, she might simply make them feel a little tired, or have a little control over when she has the power active.


END SPOILERS.

So yeah, I guess that's all I have to aay now. Gnight folks.

26.5.06

Woes Aplenty

So I've got some problems. I've also got some good things to talk about. I'll start with the good, since in my head the conversation flows better that way. I just watched a couple episodes of The West Wing. The first was one TiVo'd, and was basically the first part of a story arc(h?) where the Bartlet Administration decides to stop playing defensive and actually push some issues, damn the consequenses. It got me fired up, and I decided I didn't want to wait for the next one to air tomorrow. Then I remembered that I'd bought the first season on DVD, and had never actually watched it. I'm fucking retarded. But no matter, tonight I finally made use of my $22 investment.

Now usually I'm the last one to be a stickler about video quality. I care more about the story being presented than the presentation itself, for the most part. I can recognize people through light broadcast static, or at whatever quality media snobs are deeming "TOO LOW" for their HDTV's. Peh, I say. But I loaded up the West Wing DVD, and compared to the picture coming off my TiVo... Well, they're worlds apart. The DVDis just SO much better. I have now resolved to bring my laptop to New Jersey (though probably not both hard disks, and definitely not the 2nd monitor) and I'll use it to watch the whole season over the nine nights I'm down there. There-in lies my problem.

You see, I like to buy things. I just got a direct deposit of $355 from Target into my checking account, bringing the grand total up to... $360. Part of the problem is that it takes $75-80 to fill up my van's gas tank, and it needs to be filled at least once every 2 weeks. More than that if I'm driving a lot. I buy movie tickets for myself and occasionally Jackie whenever the mood hits me (this summer's movie season I've already seen Mission Impossible 3, and I'll see X-Men and Superman before it's over, and that's only the ones I know about now). I'm getting a LITTLE better at getting video games. I haven't gotten a PS2 game since Kingdom Hearts, and I had that paid for since before I was working at Target. I don't see much upcoming for the DS since New Super Mario Bros. (did I mention I beat it the other night?), and there's been very little out for the PSP in all of its short life (I think I convinced Dad to get me a copy of Field Commander for a belated birthday / X-mas Gift), and I know I've got a pretty big backlog of titles to finish, at least for the PS2, DS, and GBA, so I think that I should just start putting video games onto my Christmas Wish List from now on. Continuing down the list of things I like to buy, Transformers pop into my hands every now and again. Between the Beast Wars reissues, Alternators, spiffy Cybertron toys, next month's release of the Titanium figures, and the upcoming Classics line, not to mention the Movie tie-in Hasbro has planned for 2007, that's another thousand dollars at least I could be saving for other, less-transformable things. Working in the electronics section of Target always points out more than a few things I want to get, between computer accessories, software, and DVD's, including seasons 2-7 of the West Wing which I plan to buy. I've decided that I'm willing to splurge and get FF7: AC on UMD so I'll have something to watch on the plane next week. I'm gonna get at least a fat pack of Dissention, and hopefully I'll be able to get some Mini Masters games in with it.

Oh yeah, plus I've got to feed myself.

And then I've got an ambition to purchase a new desktop computer. I found a decent one at Best Buy for less than $600, and I think in about 2 more pay checks, if I can curb my spending a bit, I should be able to pick it up and take it home. That'll be fun. ^_^ YAY WORLD OF WARCRAFT WITH NO CLIPPING OR SLUGGISHNESS!!!

Sigh. Step one - Don't buy stuff you don't need. No more Transformers, DVDs, or video games until I've got that computer. As an added incentive, I've decided that one of the first things to play on that computer once I've got it running the way I want is gonna be the Transformers Movie teaser trailer set for release by July 4th. If I get it before then, huzzah! If not, I'm not gonna watch it until I have the computer. Now, all I need is a little energy, and a lot of luck.
More than you imagine, Optimus Prime...
Oh, fuck you, Megatron.