... from the mouths of babes...

knock knock

2011-01-30T12:28:00.002-05:00

I do believe by this point my blog-readers may be so long gone I can actually post things here. Whee.

So, yeah, what the fuck? I don't feel like doing ANYTHING anymore except sitting on the couch here playing vidgames and watching movies/television. I don't want to talk to anyone, I don't want to go to work, I don't want to deal with housework, fuck, even personal hygiene. I haven't stopped showering yet, but, gods, it seems to be later and later in the day before I talk myself into getting clean. I just stepped out of the shower, in fact.

It's just the turn of the cycle, I suppose. But it's an effin' bummer.

When Robots Attack

2009-12-01T01:17:00.002-05:00

I don't know if anyone noticed, but, there've been a lot of adverts appearing in the comments section 'round here. Quite annoying. But, I'm here with good news! Blog's making a move. So, from now on, if you've any interest in new posts, you'll be able to find them at the following URL: http://sixtyxcelph.tumblr.com

So, enjoy! That is all for now.

Hoooly shit

2009-11-13T23:57:00.003-05:00

It has been FOR-fucking-EVER. I keep meaning to come back to this and something happens, I get distracted, just somethin', y'know? But, I am still alive! I still have access to a computer! I'm still playing vidgames and watching movies! I'm saving up for a car, but, I suck at saving money and not buying stuff to make me feel better, so, it's slow. I've been working, whee for gas stations, but, I am apparently DA BOMB at it, which is not necessarily a great thing. But I've been working at the one right by my house while I'm waiting for the new store to open, where I will then go to work. Visiting my darling girlfriend, Miss Jess'ka, whenever I can. With any luck we'll even be getting an apartment together soon, which would be rad. I miss her whenever she's not around. But, yeah. Random news! I've grown quite fond of Arizona green tea with ginseng and honey. Mmmmmm. But, hopefully I'll be posting some new stuff more frequently. I'm not sure what yet. Some review stuff, maybe? I dunno, there's a lot of stuff I'm trying to get around and settled in life, so, working on reviews and things of that sort kind of take a backseat. As is apparent with the nigh shutdown of my YouTube account. A complete lack of activity. For which I am sad. But, I am trying, so, whee, let's all cross our fingers!

Two in one night, oh joy!

2009-07-13T23:29:00.000-04:00

I worry that anything I say or do may influence the way people talk to me and the things people say to me. It's the reason I tend to keep a lot of complaints and opinions to myself.

Like, I'll say something, express some opinion, and from then on whomever I was speaking with or around when I said whatever will think to themselves, "Oh, well, I'll just keep this to myself from now. I won't mention it to him."

I don't want that to happen. I worry about that happening.

An opinion about an argument.

2009-07-13T23:21:00.001-04:00

So, let's have us a little chat.

About abortion.

Okay, not really about abortion. About a particular argument oft used when arguing about abortion:

"You don't get to have an opinion on this because you're not a woman."

First of all, fuck you. You may not feel that my opinion is valid, because I'm a male and thus can not actually birth a child. You're welcome to feel that way. But don't tell me I can't have a gods damned opinion. I can have an opinion about anything I want.

On that note, I often do have an opinion on anything and everything.

Do I think men should be making final decisions on the topic of abortion? Oh, hell no. For the same reasons I'm told I can't have an opinion. No man should be telling a woman whether or not she must have a baby. But he can gods damned well have an opinion on the matter.

Y'ever notice how that particular proclamation generally only comes about once a woman' run out of clear, valid arguments? Or come to a point they can't really disagree with or argue against? Yeah.

It's akin to when your 'rents would tell you, "Because I said so!"

It just irks me. There is no good reason why I can't have an opinion on the matter. And, as far as I'm concerned, no reason why my opinion is not as valid as the majority of women out there.

Inebriation and Paranoia

2009-07-10T01:33:00.000-04:00

Allow me to preface this by saying that, with the exception of the post made on the seventh, nothing recently has really been about anyone specifically. Except for this preface, which is really to mein Jess'ka and mein chickadee. =P No one did anything that upset me and sent me on a blogging spree. Promise.

On that note, though, it's not so much that I get particularly upset about people getting drunk, unless it's something that occurs often. It's just that I'm paranoid. And it's not even necessarily that I'm worried about a drunk friend doing something, it's as much that I'm worried about something being done to them, ya dig?

Also, this is a good time to say that this mostly applies to when they're drunk and I'm not there with them. If I'm there, aussi, I feel more secure and I feel more like I could help. I could maybe stop them from doing something stupid and hurting themselves or help them if a situation arose in which they needed help. So, that concept, idea, thing applies to both this and my last entry on inebriation. If I'm there, I'm far less concerned about it.

But, where was I? Oh, yes, my paranoia. Right, I worry a lot. Like, a whole lot. Irritatingly so. I worry about absolutely retarded things happening. And, as stated in the last one on a similar topic, bad things are more likely to happen when a person is inebriated. It opens certain windows of opportunity. And I'm quite the paranoid motherfucker. I realize, in rereading it and based on responses to it, that it seems I'm placing all kinds of negativity on drunk people. "Ohhh, you're drunk, you're a bad person and you're going to do terribly, awful, bad things." It's not that at all. Okay, that's not true, that's part of it. But, far more of a concern on my mind is "Oh, you're drunk, blackouts/passouts are quite likely. You may get hurt." So, while I worry about whether or not a person may make a bad decision [and believe me, there's a particular concern there, remember, trust issues], I'm far more worried about whether or not something bad is merely going to happen, whether it's the drunk person's decision or not.

And all of that, to say again, is really only when I'm not there, aussi. When I can't know what's going on.

Death of An Angel.

2009-07-07T20:53:00.003-04:00

An Angel was born the seventh of February, 1981.

An Angel died the sixth of July, 2009.

I had ideas when I opened Notepad of what to write. I don't anymore, though. Part of it is I don't necessarily feel like I have any right to say anything. Inqy's husband and daughter are certainly in far worse pain than I am. Inqy had much closer friends who are certainly in far worse pain than I am.

Then, there's the point that I haven't talked to her in a long while. Largely because of a very petty move on my part which I don't even know if she was aware of occuring. And to that point, I don't even know if she remembers me at all. Or ever thought about me. And I didn't make much of an effort to contact her too often because I assumed she did not, had not. I assumed she was better off without me bothering her.

But, when I heard about her death last night, the news rendered me in such a state that I could not explain to my Jess'ka why I was crying because I was having difficulty speaking.

In short, I am conflicted.

And here I am, again, unsure what to say.

Today has been strange. No one I interact with on a day-to-day basis, excluding when I sign in come evening, knows who Angel Yates is. They don't know that this delightful, funny, terrifically talented artist died yesterday morning. They don't know how many people are hurting from this. A human being copes better if they have someone with which they can share their pain because they feel it, aussi. Hence the existence of funerals and wakes. I do not have this. Luckily, I am well-equipped to handle myself. But it makes the day strange.

There is a memorial service in Sarasota, Florida, on the eleventh of July, 2009, for an Angel who died. It is impossible for me to be there to pay my respects in person. But she will be missed terribly by many people. She was a wonderful friend while I had the honor. My best wishes go to Roley and Jubee in her absence.

http://inqy.in/
http://wickedalchemy.net/
http://onnachance.com/

Inebriation and Trustworthiness

2009-07-04T22:43:00.000-04:00

Let us take a moment and consider a correlation betwixt inebriation and trustworthiness, insofar as I am concerned.

My trust can sometimes be finicky. At least, in how I decide whom to trust and how much to trust them. It would be incorrect to say that it is difficult for me to trust people, because there are some instances where I feel comfortable enough to trust someone nigh entirely nigh immediately. But, it would also be incorrect to say that I trust people easily. There are some instances where I never trust a person. It's case-by-case, and largely a subconscious decision, to begin with. It can be altered by actions in the course of a relationship, usually to the detriment of my level of trust in the person.

Alcohol. Can be tasty, but, too much can cause a lowering or utter lack of inhibitions. Or, substandard judgment. Perhaps one could go so far as to say alcohol lowers morality? However you phrase it, it does that for a time. A relatively short period of time; a day at most.

But, in that period of time, my trust in a person, even if it's utter and nigh complete, dwindles to nothing. I do not feel I can trust someone to be the person I know. I do not feel I can trust someone to not hurt themselves. I do not feel I can trust someone to not hurt other people. I do not feel I can trust someone to remain faithful.

And that's the correlation betwixt inebriation and trustworthiness. As level of inebriation rises, level of trustworthiness lowers. As far as I am concerned, anyway.

And that's one problem I have with people getting drunk. I'll have to explain what constitutes being called drunk in my opinion, as opposed to tipsy and all that, since it seems to differ person to person. But, that'll have to be another time.

Y'know why I say I'm not a nice person?

2009-07-02T21:52:00.002-04:00

Because I have a lot of not nice thoughts.

Breaking News: People are still shit.

2009-07-02T10:46:00.004-04:00

Every now and again I'll try following the news again; I'll start reading the newspaper, reading articles on the Newsfeed on my Wii, that sort of thing. It never lasts long, though, because invariably I come across some piece of news that just pisses me the fuck off. Some rape, some murder, some abuse, some terrible combination of the three. And all my resolve to keep up with the news dissolves. Always happens, usually within a couple days. The longest I've managed to go without coming across such a story is a week.

So, I started again over this past weekend, and, lo and behold, on the 29th, in my local paper, there ran this story: 26-year-old man kidnaps and attempts to rape six-year-old girl. I'd love to link you, but, you can feel free to look up whatever details you can find about dear old Justin Shine of Massachusetts.

Yep. My hate for people remains strong. And now, because I started thinking about that again, my thoughts have turned quite dark for the day.

I've been reading a Kurt Vonnegut book called Cat's Cradle, and there's a method of capital punishment that I am currently inclined to agree with. It's simply called "the hook", and how it works is you pierce a person's stomach, from one side to the other, on a large hook and then you hang them from it, face-up, until they die. Maybe I'm just a violent person, but, I rather like the sound of that when I'm in one of these moods.

Let's hope my thoughts and mood improve before this evening.

Imagine that, this thing's still around.

2009-06-22T01:58:00.002-04:00

So, I'm told I've been ignoring my blog. Or neglecting my blog. Or no such accusations were made, but, I was told I should write a new blog post. To be perfectly honest, I was surprised by this. But, we've been over all of that in a previous entry, so, let's just move on.

So, I've been neglecting the blog, or at least not posting anything new. And that's simply because I don't have much else new to post. I mean, I haven't been watching any new movies as of late, been far, far too broke. I did post that E3 Microsoft press conference thing, and fully intended to post one for Nintendo and Sony, aussi, but I never got around to it and it just got to a point where it seemed to be far too late to actually post it, so... I just didn't. Had everything that I had intended to type up and post, but... yeah, too late by this point, I figure.

Which leaves what these blogs started out as when they were first invented, whichever website was first. Blogging, weblogging, a journal on the internets. Yeah, I don't lead a life interesting enough to warrant trying to post anything about it at all. And even if I did, it would quickly become the same thing repeated quite often. The joys of living far away from people and being unemployed. Not to mention, I just suck at keeping a journal. I always have trouble remembering everything that happened withing the day, and I always feel like I'm forgetting something. Always, always, always. So, that just doesn't work for me, I just don't think I have it in me to make a written record of everything I do. Because I don't do anything, haha. Usually [not always, because there have been instances in which I have not] I'll post a big, long blog if anything worth sharing happens. And speaking of sharing, let us move on to another reason, shall we?

Sharing. I'm not sure when it happened, but, somewhere over the past few years I stopped being quite as open about everything. I mean, I still don't have secrets, but, they're not as readily available. They actually have to be inquired into, they're not directly offered. And now, I'm slowly coming to terms with and realizing that people pay attention to the things I say. Not just here, but, anywhere remotely public. Facebook status messages are another good example. I have to watch what I say, or how I say it, because people are listening [I just need the tinfoil hat now, huh?] Figuratively speaking, of course, nothing's actually being said or heard [except for the sounds of my typing, sorry Miss Jess'ka! =P], it's all text. But you know what I mean! So, that sometimes kills some things I could type about, when I've wanted to type about them. Because someone may actually read it. And, I know, don't get started on "Well, that's the point, otherwise, why are you posting it to the internets?" Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Mmkay, right on, how about what I've done before, picking some abstract topic, nothing specific to anyone, but just something on my mind that I want to talk about? Well... yeah, everything I've thought about lately has either just been too whiney or just sounds stupid as something to talk about. I know that being whiney and emo has not stopped me in the past, but, I really don't want that to be me, y'know? And I feel like a tool every time I do it, I hate bitching about things, so, no, I'm not going to do that. No.

Okay, how about some of the things I said I would do? There were some game reviews I said I would probably do here on this blog, as well as some thoughts and opinions on this band I've never heard of before. But, alas, I just simply haven't felt like doing them. And I'm a shithead. A smart shithead, though, who never actually said when these things would be done, though, y'see. Because, let's face it, this is a hobby. Posting my opinions [for all two of you to actually read] doesn't really accomplish besides allowing me to kill some time. It's not a job or anything, so, whee for slacking off when I simply don't feel like it. Which is unfortunate for anyone who was looking forward to [seriously?] anything I have to say. And I still maintain that some day I'll get back into doing so, but, for right now I'm far too invested in other things in life.

Well, then we're in a little bit of pickle, Dick. Because that leaves me without many options. Sure, I could go on a verbose diatribe about why I've not been posting [CHECK!] But, then what? Where does this go from here? If I ever watch a new movie again, there'll be a new mini-review [what number are we on, anyway?] If I ever do anything again, and I feel it's something anyone cares to read about, I'll have something to share right? Assuming it's something I'm allowed to share. (^_~) But as it stands right now, I just don't have anything.

But, I'll get back to you on that. I'm still around, promise. And who knows, maybe tomorrow I'll think of some topic to type about. Maybe I'll post something about the books I've read lately, as I got around to requesting a new library card, so, I've been readin' bookz wit' werdz in 'em. We'll see, we'll see.

I don't know where I was intending to go with this, I kind o' just started with that first paragraph and went from there, stream-of-consciousness style. My bad if it's too long.

E3 2009: Microsoft... "All in one box"

2009-06-01T17:48:00.003-04:00

Sounds dirty, doesn't it? This year, I'm going to try to make this less cluttered and so anyone reading can just skip right by the things they want. As opposed to the walls of text I did for last year's E3. So, to begin with, a rundown of the games premiered and showcased!

--The Beatles: Rock Band
It's more Rock Band, am I right? Um, most interesting aspect, to me, is the harmonizing. Beyond that, though, it's... Rock Band with Beatles songs. They showed of ten of the forty-five songs that will be on the disc, and I only knew a couple of them. My mother's interest was piqued, though. And my grandmother will be hella interested in the box set that's coming out the same day as the game, 09/09/09. The two remaining Beatles and the two wives of the dead Beatles came out, though, so... woo. It was a bit awkward with Ringo and Paul, though, talking about how great the game is and looks. They just don't strike me as vidgame savvy.

--Tony Hawk Ride
No interest. Except for a mild curiosity in the skateboard peripheral, from a technical standpoint. I'm curious how well it works and how well it simulates actual skateboarding. Time shall tell.

--Modern Warfare 2
My interest in Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare has been growing quite a bit recently, mostly because I keep hearing that it's an amazing story. I don't give a shit about the competitive multiplayer, but, over the past couple months I've been hearing more about the singleplayer.

Unfortunately, what they showed of the game didn't really show much of the story, so, as of yet my interest in this sequel is looow. But, I will say that the action looked hella fun. Shooting guys off of snowmobiles and such.

--Final Fantasy XIII
Woot whoop! Best part of this was getting to see the combat gameplay, which seems to have dropped the run around style that is in Final Fantasy XII. Which is awesome, because while it can be fun, it's not my preferred way to play an RPG, especially not Final Fantasy. Other than that, what do you want to know? It's FFXIII. Uh... there's a Chocobo chick living in the black guy's afro! If you didn't already know that.

--Shadow Complex
EPIC developed Xbox Live Arcade game. I honestly don't know what to say about it. It looks interesting enough, little 2D action/shooter. But... yeah, it's an XBLA release that wasn't really explained terribly well, since Donald Mustard had some microphone trouble. But, from the sounds of things, they're just looking to make a fun 2D action/shooter. Nothing innovative was really touched upon or shown, so, if that's enough for you, keep a lookout for it!

Side note, it did appear that CliffyB [I don't care if he doesn't like that name, he's stuck with it for me] was wearing a shirt with Bill Gates' old mug shots printed on it.

--Joy Ride
Another Xbox Live Arcade title, this one let's you race cars with your Avatar! Woo? Yeah, doesn't do much for me. Seems to be just a basic cart racer with the sole hook of incorporating your Avatar. Also, "it's free to download and free to play", but things like extra cars, tracks, and other stuff will need to be bought. Maybe I'm just cynical, but, that makes me think there won't be much contained in the basic, free download. We'll see.

--Crackdown 2
Now, I never got around to playing the first Crackdown. The most I played was the demo, and I was relatively unimpressed, but the trailer for the sequel interests me a hell of a lot more. Mostly because of the seemingly more horror element present. Monsters and infected folk and the like. Or is that present in the first game and just never talked about anywhere?

--Left 4 Dead 2
Already? Yep, apparently coming November 17th. My guess is that it's going to be a lot like the first one, but with new people. And now the inclusion of melee weapons like axes and chainsaws! So, yeah, another sequel who's original I did not get to play yet, aside from the demo.

--Splinter Cell: Conviction
Good gods, this seems to be the year of sequels to games I have not been able to play! This game looks awesome, though, and makes me wish I could get my hands on the other games as soon as possible to get caught up. I especially like the integration of the story-telling into the gameplay. Not a new concept at all, but still something I like seeing pop up more and more often. The way the game goes about telling you your objective is very cool, nice and cinematic: it puts it in the sky, on the walls of buildings, things like that.

--Forza Motorsport 3
No interest on my part, I'm not much of one for racing games anymore, they've grown too complex and technical for me to really enjoy. I will say that the cars look great, though.

The "potential" they say is there for their in-game video editor is complete bullshit, though, if it's what it seems to be to me. Unless you have a half-dozen or so friends who are experts at Forza Motorsport 3, and I mean fucking experts, you aren't going to be recording and creating any of the stuff shown in that vid.

--Halo 3: ODST
Do I even really need to say anything? It's more Halo, if you've enjoyed the Halo games thus far and you want more, here it comes! If you have not liked them and have avoided them, here's another to skip! A point brought up is that the first Halo's pistol is making a comeback in this. Woot.

I am more interested in another story set in the Halo universe, personally, especially since the narrative will be different [though only different relative to previous Halo games] in that it's told in flashback format as you find clues. So, you'll see varying perspectives at the same time as progressing the main storyline and putting it together. Intriguing.

And there's a new cooperative mode that's mentioned only in name, Firefight. I'm going to venture a guess that this is something akin to Gears of War 2's Horde mode, though.

--Halo Reach
Almost nothing was shown or shared about this, except a little teaser and the knowledge that it's forthcoming. Prequel, sequel, FPS, another RTS, something completely different? No idea. I speculate that it's a sequel to Halo 3, personally.

--Alan Wake
Fuckin' FINALLY! Let us hope that it stays on track this time. Spring 2010 release, cross your fingers everyone! Some gameplay footage that kind of reminds me of Alone in the Dark, mostly in the use of light as a weapon that showcases the story a bit.

So, you're a science fiction writer who's woken up to find your wife missing and the first couple pages of a manuscript you've written. The bitch of it is, everyone you had written is coming true! So, you're searching for the rest of the manuscript so you can find out what's happening, find your wife, and save yourself while fighting off what the fuck every it is that's attacking you, it's difficult to make out.

An interesting science fiction, mystery thriller that I've been looking to since it was first announced in... '05? '06?

--Metal Gear: Rising
A Raiden-focused Metal Gear game. Intriguing. I've heard that Raiden turned into a badass ninja-guy in Metal Gear Solid 4, so that, coupled with Hideo Kojima's comment that this would be a new style of gameplay for a Metal Gear game, kind of helps me along to the conclusion that we're looking at an action title akin to the Devil May Cry series, or possibly the God of War games. Which sounds hella cool to me.

Speaking of Hideo Kojima, HAH! He's at a Microsoft event saying "Metal Gear Solid is coming to the Xbox 360!" So much for his Playstation 4 Life attitude, eh?

Being that this is the last game shown at Microsoft's E3 presentation, it seems as good of a time as any to mention how pleased I am to see exclusivity dying. It's going too slow for my tastes, but it's still going. Aside from first-party developed games, it's absolutely ridiculous that games are still exclusive titles.

But, let's talk about the rest of Microsoft's show. First of all, thank the gods that they didn't throw up charts and graphs and the number-throwing was kept to an extreme minimum.

Next, let's talk about some of the new things coming to Xbox Live!

Xbox Live plus last.fm? All right, music, I'm diggin' it. Streaming songs from last.fm through my surround sound speakers sounds excellent. Not much else was said about it, though, so we'll have to wait until it drops, which is supposedly in the fall.

Xbox Live plus Facebook? What the fuck?! Yeah, I don't personally need to have that, but it doesn't seem too ridiculous. Just access to your photos, friends, and status updates/newsfeed. Right on. I'm wondering if preparation for this presentation is why Facebook has been fuck-all slow lately. Considering nigh immediately after it was over with Facebook was running correctly again. Hmmmmmmm... but, if you wanna talk about ridiculous and unnecessary...

Xbox Live plus Twitter? What the fuck?!?! Yeah, that strikes me as utterly unnecessary. But, whatev, there are people who want it I'm sure. And now they'll get it.

One more thing and then we'll get on to the highlight of Microsoft's presentation, as far as I'm concerned. Xbox Live plus Netflix will be improving. Full 1080p, finally. Watching the films your streaming in parties over Xbox Live, finally. Instant streaming... finally. Basically, all the stuff that was promised at last year's E3 about the NXE and Netflix is coming. Also, Sky TV in the UK and Ireland, for my across the pond readers. Which will include being able to watch live television right from your Xbox.

And the biggest bit of technology introduced is Project Natal. Full-body motion capture incorporated into games, the dashboard, everything. No controller necessary at all. Facial recognition to sign you in to Xbox Live as soon as you walk in front of the Project Natal camera, voice recognition and hand motions to navigate menus... intriguing as all hell for a tech-junkie, but I can't help but feel it's idealistic. At least, the hype they built for it. But, it's certainly a step. Whether it's a step toward truly immersive gameplay or the beginning of AI technology that will one day enslave the human race... I'm not sure. Seriously, do a video search for "Project Natal" and "Milo", see the interactions betwixt this AI program and this woman. Crazy. Again, either extremely immersive, imaginative, interactive gameplay, or... we're fucked. One way or the other, eventually.

But, as far as the gameplay aspect is concerned, I'm too cynical to believe that it'll be useful in anything more than very simplistic games. Not to say they won't be fun, for instance this "Ricochet" game they showed looks like a lot of fun. But I see a lot of games working poorly or being just too dumb to be any fun. Like the painting thing that was shown after "Ricochet". That holds no interest for me or anyone else I know. But, perhaps just at first, perhaps it will improve over time, but... initially, I see it bombing and not meeting these high expectations set for it. Remember the Nintendo Wii everyone? All the misleading press about how sensitive the Wii remote and nunchuk would be in simulating and translating your movements to the screen? Yeah...

A final note, speaking of the Nintendo Wii, was it really necessary for Kudo Tsunoda to diss the Wii? I mean, sure, it got the reaction I'm sure he wanted, but... cheapened his presentation in my eyes.

Mini-Reviews 37

2009-05-30T14:06:00.001-04:00

Whoops, forgot to post this yesterday.

The Abandoned-- Not a good film. Boring, and the main character is dumb as shit, and not in a more entertaining way. That's about it.

Just a little late side note...

2009-05-28T10:27:00.002-04:00

To avoid any confusion in case anyone else reads this, the end of that last entry is not to be taken seriously. I am not seriously complaining about not being able to purchase vidgames; I am not quite that petty. It was a joke, I wanted to end on something that made me laugh.

But seriously, though, E3's comin' and I'm looking forward to what the three console companies have planned for their conferences.

Not as entertaining a read this time, sorry

2009-05-27T21:03:00.001-04:00

So, today and yesterday I've not been in a terribly good mood. Yesterday was my own fault. Today was not. But that's beside the point, my point is that one of the things on my mind is how shitty I am, so, let's talk about that, shall we?

So, in short, I'm ignorant and a coward. I don't know what I'm doing or where I'm going or, hell, even when. And I really hate the amount of hand-holding it would appear I require. I know, that's all terribly cryptic, but I've come to the realization that I'm just not down with sharing full-detail information with anyone who happens to wander across this blog.

To top it all off, I'm fat, hairy, ugly, I hate my voice, my stomach sucks and it makes me feel ill way too often, I'm broke as shit, and the vicious circle that is my mind hates me even more because I hate myself. What the fuck, right?

Some good news, E3 is coming up and I'm looking forward to the conferences so I can hear about all the nifty games I won't be getting.

And that's not entirely sarcastic.

A Day For Idiots

2009-05-13T17:13:00.003-04:00

I dunno what the fuck is up with people today, but gods be damned, all the idiots done left thei' homes.

There's nothing big to share, just a bunch of little things that add up to that inarguable fact. Like the sheer number of people I saw crossing the streets in the middle of traffic, neverminding the cars barreling toward them. Or the number of dumb ass drivers who don't know where their turn signals are or any basic rules of the road. Or this one big, white Dodge Ram that had no fucking clue what he was doing. Driving down the middle of two lanes, whipping around other cars, ignoring stop signs. He was fun to follow for a while. And this big tanker truck that kept drifting to the right and then over-correcting and whipping back to the left, more than once into the lane of oncoming traffic a bit.

All the idiots are out today. Remain indoors, please.

EDIT: Oh, and, a fun fact I learned today, Blistex medicated lip ointment apparently has tinfoil lining the inside, and that will set off a metal detector.

Not teenage, not mutant, but definitely a ninja turtle.

2009-05-09T20:21:00.002-04:00

So, I'm on my way home today, just drivin' along. I come upon a big turtle in the middle of my lane, so y'know, I position the car so as to drive over him, between my wheels, as opposed to veering into oncoming traffic or straight-up rolling over the turtle. But, as we're driving over it, I hear a distinct THUNK! from under the vehicle, and my mother, who's riding in the passenger seat, says "Did you just hit the turtle?!" To which I replied, "No, I fucking drove over him. Maybe his shell hit against the underside of the car."

We decided to return and check on the welfare of this turtle. So, we walk along the shoulder of the road up to him [and he was a big son of a bitch snapping turtle, not some little cutesy thing] and the little fucker is snapping at cars going by in the other lane! XD At this point, people are noticing us in the street with this turtle, and they're stopping to look and comment before driving on. Oh, and would you like to know what that THUNK! was? Well, another car drives over him while we were standing there deciding what to do, and the turtle whips his head up at the car driving over him tryin' to bite it, smacking his head against the underside of it in the process. XDD So... yeah, big, angry ninja turtle.

Happy ending, though, a nice lady and a nice, albeit kind o' weird, older gentleman stopped and got out of their cars to help, aussi. We eventually pushed the little thing to the other side of the guard rail by the road, but, he was not happy about his lot in life, let me tell you. He was snapping and tryin' to get folk, grabbing and chewing up the sticks we were using to prod him to the side ['cause, I dunno about y'all, but, I like fingers right where they are, and homie turtle there could have bitten at least one clean off]. We could have grabbed his tail, but, he wouldn't let us get behind him, he kept circlin' to face off against us, and if one distracted him while another person went to the backside to grab his tail, this smart turtle would wrap it up tight against his body so you couldn't grab it.

So, yeah... whee, saved a pissed off turtle. Or, alternatively, I saved some cars passing by from a pissed off turtle. XDD

Mini-Reviews 36

2009-05-08T21:01:00.001-04:00

It's still technically Friday...

Star Trek-- Great movie, see it. Yeah, that's about all I've got to say. See it. Even if you don't watch the television show or you're not that interested in it, see the movie. You'll probably like it even better than a Trekkie may!

Mini-Reviews 35

2009-05-01T10:24:00.002-04:00

Holy hell, I watched a new movie! Midnight showings for the win.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine-- It's an okay action movie, if you don't mind heavy-handed dialogue, a lot of kind o' poorly done CG, and a lot of ridiculous yelling. And so long as you completely ignore the source material. Yeah, pretty much just okay, pretty good if you're just looking for some funny lines and stupid, fun action.

Doctor Horrible

2009-04-30T00:37:00.002-04:00

Ya heard of it? I did a week or two ago. Couldn't really watch it, though. Doesn't run very well on this shitty computer. But, while Miss Jess'ka was here we watched it on her laptop and it's effin' delightful. NPH is awesome. It's funny, it's got good music that I now want to buy, and it's got it's more dramatic, heartfelt moments. It's 45 minutes and awesome, watch it!

In case anyone was curious...

2009-04-29T14:39:00.003-04:00

Where the hell were you all of yesterday and thus far today?

Well, Miss Jess'ka made an impromptu visit. I realize that doesn't mean much to most anyone reading this blog, as I've only mentioned her the once before, but, she's someone I've been chatting with a little while now and whom I initially met on OkCupid, which is a dating site. And it was a nice surprise, as I really only joined so that I could answer match questions and save my quiz results, so, woot for lucky happenstance. (^_^) Anyway, she came down incredibly early Tuesday morning...

Backstory, earlier Sunday she had mentioned that she'd like us to maybe stop off on the way home and see her. It's not my business to share her business, but, she wanted a massage and cuddle. Unfortunately, that obviously did not come to pass. So we were chatting Monday night and around midnight she brought up that she could be here in a couple of hours. I pussy-footed around for an hour and another half before agreeing, because I was exceptionally nervous about such an occurrence, not to mention I'm paranoid as hell. But, I finally caved and said yes, and I'm terribly glad that I did. I realize you can't completely know a person just from chatting, but, you can get to know some things and you can certainly build an expectation. I liked what I came to know and I expected positive things. But, anyway, so she left and got here around 3:40 and immediately hugged me [that is important, because I'm a very touch-oriented person, but I've learned that there are a lot of people who are not, so, letting me know right off the bat that she was comfortable was an excellent move]. And then we ended up not going to sleep at all.

Come morning, shower and figure what we're going to do with the rest of our day, so, I called Tebo a little before quarter of ten. He had a class 9:50 to 11:15-ish, but after that he was free, so, decision was made to call him back at 11:15. So, Miss Jess'ka decided to take a nap, though she barely slept. She didn't fall asleep to begin with 'til around 10:30, and then she woke up every five or ten minutes to ask what time it was. At 11:09 [don't ask why I remember the exact time, I don't know why] Tebo called and said he got out early. We decided to hit the mall and bomb around, grab lunch, whatev 'til 12:30 when Hans got out of his class. So, we did, and around noon-ish or so we left and made our way to Corning, specifically to see if Hans was home. Tebo spoke with Hans on the way there, apparently, because we ended up going straight to Denison[I have no idea if that's how it's spelt] Park to play throw a frisbee around. And that's what we did 'til about two, with Nicole [friend of Tebo's and Hans' mostly, I only kind o' know her] and Hans showing up eventually. Tebo and Nicole had a mandatory class at 2:15, so they went to that, Hans went home, and Miss Jess'ka and I stayed at the park for a little while longer. Then we came back to my house, stopping on the way to get gas and a couple things at Target. The rest of the night's not something I'm going to go into because I'm honestly not sure if I should [minds out o' the gutter homies, it's not dirty. Not all of it. (^_~)] Hmm... I did watch the first episode of Doctor Who [I suppose it's the new Doctor Who, at least that's what Miss Jess'ka always referred to it as], I can share that much. Anyway, we eventually slept, awoke in the morning, showered [ASIDE: I really can't stand not getting at least one shower in a day], and got lunch at around 11:30. Yeah, I got sick of sharing lots of random details, as well as, I'm again not sure what I should and should not share. And now I'm hoping she makes it home okay, because... I'm retarded and I worry like a motherfucker. I'm sure she will make it just fine, but, I worry about slight chances of things a lot. It's an unfortunate, very irritating character flaw.

Remembering details of multiple days like I've done this entry and last is time-consuming and a little tiring, so, if I may, I will end this on a saccharine but bitter-sweet ending. Miss Jess'ka left to go back home about 30 or 40 minutes ago and I miss her very much already, which is really made worse because it's likely to be a month or more before I get to see her again. Such is life, I suppose.

This past weekend

2009-04-27T10:59:00.003-04:00

SATURDAY
So, I got up at 7:30, awoke by a phone call from my mother wanting to make sure I take care of her plants. I got up, showered, got my stuff around, made sure there was plenty of food and water for the animals while I was going to be gone, and sat and beat Mega Man 2: Power Warriors, an arcade game I unlocked on my Mega Man Anniversary Collection disc. Tebo got here at quarter of ten and we were off within fifteen minutes, bound for Oneonta. Got there around noon-ish. Our excuse for this trip? OH Fest, a festival put on by the two colleges in town, Oneonta and Hartwick, plus the free concert. Personally, I think HO Fest has a better ring to it, but, that's beside the point! In reality, though, I couldn't care less about OH Fest or the free concert, it was just a good excuse to see some friends whom go to Oneonta.

So, anyway! We got to Oneonta, got our parking permit, Tebo and Jimi got lunch at Mills, a place on campus [yeah, keep track of how much I eat over the course of this weekend, I'm such a fucking idiot], and made our way down to Main Street, which was blocked off for OH Fest and packed with people. For the most part, OH Fest was incredibly boring. Mind you, it's only one or two, and the concert doesn't start 'til six. Whee. There were a couple things set up that I wouldn't have minded trying out, like this King of the Mountain climbing thing and this American Gladiator style arena, with little platforms two people stand opposite each other on and then try to push each other off with... I don't know what they're called, but, the staffs with the big pads on either end? Those things. And therein lies a moment to be shared! Tebo and Jimi weren't keen on trying these things with me, but, we did watch these two kids duke it out. Because we knew it was going to end in tears for one of them. And we were correct. Kid A is on the left, Kid B is on the right. Kid B turned to his right, no longer facing Kid A, and Kid A butted him in the side of the face with the end of his staff-thing. Kid B, understandably, crumpled while Kid A immediately hopped off his platform and got off the arena. There was a moment of concern wherein Kid B did not move, but he eventually stood up, removed his helmet, and went to leave the arena. I saw "went to leave" because, as he was getting over the wall, he fell on the other side. Insult to injury?

Other than that, nothing else happened. The three of us went to kill time 'til six, threw a frisbee around for a while. Nothing of interest. Around 5:30, 5:45, we went over to chill by the stage and wait for this free concert to start. Now's a good time to explain why I was not at all excited for this free concert. The line-up went like this: Eve6 was the headliner, with Separate Ways, a Journey tribute band, the Ataris, and, I learned once we got there, Rahzel from The Roots. I don't care about Journey, I don't care about Rahzel and his beatboxing, I don't like the Ataris, and I was only familiar with one song by Eve6, "Think Twice". Woo.

So, while we're waiting, watching Separate Ways get their shit set up, we people-watched. And there was this one creepy motherfucker. Just starin' at all the college girls, with his big, sunburnt bald spot and orange cushion he was constantly fluffing. There was one hilarious point where he just leaned really far toward this one group of girls settling down near him, blatantly staring creepily. It was awesome and horribly unfortunate all at once.

As for the bands... well, Separate Ways does indeed sound like Journey, so, go them. But... I don't care about Journey, so, I was uninterested. They had an hour-long set, during which time their singer ostensibly made a fool of himself as far as I'm concerned. There was a kind of sad moment where he brought his kids on the stage while he was singing and sang the song to them. It was sweet in concept, but, kind of ridiculous in practice. And there were several instances where he tried to make a joke and it just fell flat. There was a pretty funny moment where someone in front requested they sing Happy Birthday, because it was his 21st birthday. The singer basically called bullshit on him and said "Throw your wallet up here", which he did. And, sadly, that's where that story ends. He didn't sing Happy Birthday, but he did not vocally confirm whether it was the dude's 21st birthday or not.

After their set, I was a little hungry finally, so, we threaded our way through the crowd over to the Domino's trailer where I grabbed a slice of pizza, and made our way to a bench to chill through Rahzel and the Ataris, which we did. P.S., while I like beatboxing, and Rahzel was pretty good at it from what I heard of him, I don't want to sit and listen to that at a show. Not to mention, he was doing songs by Jay-Z and Kanye, whom I don't enjoy listening to. Blah.

Anyway, some time during the Ataris set we bombed over to a gas station up the road for a lavatory break and because it was a Stewart's and Tebo wanted some cookies. And here's another little moment to share! There was this big, rude mountain of a man in a red shirt there. Just a big fat fuck, who, apparently, was looking to get drunk, 'cause he at one point shouted at the folks working there, "Do you have malt liquor?!" But before all of that he was knocking constantly on the lavatory door while some poor girl was in there using it. And he was only in there a moment before he came out bitching about it. I don't even know what problem he had with it, specifically, he just angrily came out saying "Ugh, God!" Rude son of a bitch.

But, anyway, we made our way back to the stage and caught the last few Ataris songs, and then moved closer to the stage because we assumed Eve6 would be coming on next, and Jimi and Tebo were really looking forward to it. Oh, but no! Surprise, motherfuckers, Rahzel came back out! Woo, more beatboxing. And then he did some impressions, with sound effects and everything! Optimus Prime, which sounded more like Megatron, and a not-terribly-good Gollum. Yep. He finally got off the stage and they started setting up for Eve6, and even that took forever because there was a problem with the mics. No sound.

Finally, Eve6 came on and that was certainly the highlight of the show, as they were at least good at what they do. Legitimately amusing with jokes, and generally entertaining. See, the thing with Eve6 is, they're not bad, they're pretty entertaining, but... I just don't care. They're not bad, but, I don't think they're terribly impressive either. Just mediocre, from what I've heard. The guitarist is cute, though. But, anyway, yeah, definitely the best of what was there that evening. There was a guy there, though, who was apparently REALLY into Eve6. He was just screamin', headbangin', jumpin' around, singin' all the songs. Huuuuuge Eve6 fan, haha.

Anyway, the show ended, and we left. Made our way back to Jimi's dorm and basically just hung out 'til everyone crashed around two or 2:30 in the morning.

SUNDAY
I awoke at nine, an hour before the alarm Jimi set at 10 to wake everybody up. Yeah, I don't like sleeping in later than nine if I can help it, so, my body's kind of conditioned to waking up around that time, unless I go to bed really, really late. Like, around four or five in the morning. But, anyway, so, I went and took my shower, came back and did crossword puzzles until their alarm went off and everyone else woke up/got up. Initially, the plan was to leave around noon this day, 'cause Tebo had work at five. So, the four of us, Tebo, Jimi, and Jimi's roommate Lauren, went to Jazzman's, a place on campus, around 11:30, where Jimi and Lauren got some breakfast, then back to Mills where Tebo got another sub. Yeah, I didn't get anything again. 'Cause I'm an idiot and just wasn't that hungry. Then back to the dorm where we basically hung out the rest of the day. I know what you're thinking: "The rest of the day? I thought you were leaving around noon?" Well, we decided to stay longer and Tebo called off work. (^_^) So, we hung out in Jimi's dorm. Tiina eventually came over around quarter of two because her and Jimi had a project to work on for costume history. And, yep. That's basically how we spent the rest of the day, hangin' out, keepin' each other amused, and keepin' each other company. Now, during this time, I got hold of Jimi's camera and just basically went temporarily retarded. I was taking pictures of eeeeverything, especially trying to get pictures of Tiina because she hates having her picture taken. And we like us a challenge. I'll post up all these pictures from the weekend once I get them from Jimi. So, yeah. Other ways we kept ourselves amused, we left the dorm door open and I'd just say hello to anyone who walked past. Only two people responded, though one of them responded three or four times, and one of the times she said hello first. Maybe not as amusing to anyone else, but, I thought that was pretty great. And... oh, I played Jimi's spectrometer glasses. Those things are effing cool. Colors!

But, anyway, during this time the fact I hadn't eaten anything but a single slice of pizza and some little chocolate chip cookies all weekend started to get to me. I was just feeling weak, and if I stood up I'd get lightheaded and a few times my vision went black. I'm guessing because I almost passed out? I dunno, I've never passed out before, but, I'm guessing that whenever that's happened to me in the past that it's the closest I've come to passing out. But, yeah, that went on for a few hours, but, I didn't want to suggest going anywhere because Tiina and Jimi had to get that project done last night. It was due today, after all. So... I know, I'm an idiot, let's just move on. Eventually around quarter of eight I did, though, say we should go get dinner. And we went to this place called Poseidon's and ate dinner. I had a burger, "fries" [they were actually potato wedges], and orange soda. Mmmm. P.S., their pickles suck, they tasted like salted cucumbers. And, yeah, I know, "Pickles are salted cucmbers!", but... no, they're not, shut the fuck up. Pickles and cucumbers taste distinctly different. And these did not taste like a pickle, they tasted like salted cucumbers.

But, yeah, once we were done we bailed, and Tebo and I headed home. That was about nine o'clock. I got home, I checked some e-mail, sent some messages to Miss Jess'ka and Jimi, and then took my tired ass to bed.

So, there you have it. I know I haven't posted in, like, two and a half weeks. I've just not had much to blog about, I guess? Or maybe just not felt like it? I've honestly not watched any new movies in that time, so I didn't even have that. And long, boring entries are what happen if I just detail what I did in these days. Not to mention, it's bound to get into TMI territory, ya dig?

Mini-Reviews 34

2009-04-10T11:26:00.000-04:00

Redrum-- Not too bad. Kind o' campy, kind o' funny. Mediocre at best, boring at worst. And kind of ridiculous at times.Definitely could have done without the cartoon montage, aussi. I get it, low budget, ran out of money to shoot, do a cheap cartoon. Doesn't make it any less crappy. So, yeah, it has its moments, but, I wouldn't necessarily recommend watching the film just to see them.

Tiny update

2009-04-08T10:05:00.001-04:00

Two new games were purchased yesterday. Prince of Persia for the Xbox 360 and Teenage Zombies: Invasion of the Alien Brain Thingys! for the Nintendo DS. That is all.

Instead of a mini-review.

2009-04-03T10:03:00.002-04:00

So, I didn't watch any new movies again this week. Whoopsy. But, I did play and beat a game this past weekend called Clock Tower 3 for the Playstation 2, so, I'll talk about that a little here, eh?

So, to start with, it's a pretty short game. First playthrough was about five or six hours. It doesn't feel long either, it definitely feels short as you're playing through it. The story moves quickly. And it's probably shorter if you don't get stuck wandering around and dying like I did at a couple points.

Which works as a natural segue into my next point that it's a pretty easy game. I know I just said I got stuck, but, those were mostly my own fault because I had not explored thoroughly or I simply didn't notice something. There's only one moment I can think of in the game where it's not immediately apparent you're supposed to interact with a part of the environment, but that's it. The only difficult part, really, can be the combat.

I don't know if it's me or the controls, but it took me a little while to get used to it. Once you get the hang of the battle controls, though, [which I did after the second battle] it's incredibly simple, even for the final battle [that one's time consuming, though.]

What else can I say about this game... it ranges from mediocre to bad, really. Though, bad in a way that you can laugh at, like some of the voice-acting, of course, but also some of the character movement in the cutscenes. Alyssa, the main character whom you control throughout the game, reacts in some strange ways to her fear, it's quite comical.

That brings me to another point, maybe it's just because it's a somewhat older game and it takes more to scare me, but, there are very few scary parts. There's definitely some tense moments where you'll wonder if you're going to get caught. And, I don't want to take everything from the game, there are some startle-scares when someone jumps out at you. But that's all, which could be attributable to its brevity.

To close out, it's not likely to be replayed much either, unless you fall in love with the story. You unlock some costumes once you've beaten the game. Most of which are somewhat risque, and all show some skin. Oh, did I mention these are for your fourteen-year-old character, no less? Yeah, another bit of, I imagine unintentional, hilarity. And if you play through again on your Cleared save, the game's difficulty is bumped up. As far as I know, though, there's nothing to be gained by completing this harder playthrough, so, unless you're a gamer who plays for the challenge, there's not much incentive. And yeah, that's it. Kind o' fun for the six or seven bucks I got it for, but I certainly wouldn't recommend it unless you can get it dirt cheap as well.

Mini-Reviews 33

2009-03-27T18:58:00.000-04:00

Funny Games-- An interesting movie for most of it. I dunno if I would have called it good or bad. The fourth-wall-breaking was kind of interesting. But then there comes a part where one of the antagonists picks up a remote control and rewinds the movie. Whatever the film had going for it died at that point, at least as far as I am concerned.

Mini-Reviews 32

2009-03-20T17:15:00.000-04:00

Dance of the Dead-- With a title like that and the premise of the film [a zombie attack on prom night and the only people left to stop the zombie apocalypse are the losers who didn't have dates to prom] I expected this to be a "so bad it's kind o' good" gory zombie flick. As it turns out, though, I really liked it. It's a good movie, funny little zombie comedy with plenty of gore and a touch of heart to the plot. The actors did excellent jobs, for the most part, and the writing wasn't too bad at all, dialogue-wise. The plot itself has some obvious foreshadowing, but, not bad at all. It broke one or two of my personal zombie rules, as well, but definitely worth seeing.

13 Hours In A Warehouse-- I'm not sure just what the problem is, but I was unimpressed. From about 10 minutes, maybe less, in 'til the end I was uninterested. I spent most of my time wondering what the hell it was they stole. I don't imagine I was supposed to. The acting's about what I expected, some decent B-level and plenty of terrible B-level acting. Same with the special effects and writing. Maybe its extreme mediocrity is its downfall?

I found this thing called YouTube

2009-03-20T00:20:00.004-04:00

A four part Collection Update of everything I've purchased in the past year or so. Or, at least, all the Xbox, Playstation, and Nintendo games and DVD's.

The audio sounds like butt, I got lazy and decided not to clean it up. And I left a lot of blank spaces, I got lazy with the cutting. Bah.

Also, I didn't mention my two new CD's... because that's pathetic. Yeah, I only bought two new CD's. Kerli's Love Is Dead and Disturbed's Indestructible. So there you have it.

Put it in your mouth

2009-03-17T11:41:00.002-04:00

So, y'ever heard of something that you had never heard of before and then you hear about it everywhere after that? I had something like that recently. I heard of something called FA [fat appreciation/fat appreciators]. Feeders and feedees. And now I'm hearin' it all over the place.

I'm not sure how I feel about it. At first, I was all right with it. Hells yeah, I appreciate me a thick chick. Or curvy/chubby/big, whatever you want to call it. But the more I hear about it the less supportive I am of such a lifestyle. It sounds like the extreme end of the spectrum so far. And then there seems to be a fixation on the weight number, which I am never comfortable with and I don't think anyone should care about that number or their BMI, which is even more fuckin' ridiculous. But, I digress, and I'm getting a little off the topic I intended. I was talking about the extremity of this FA thing. People insisting on being 500, 600 pounds, insisting that anyone less than that is immediately unattractive. I think it's wrong.

If there's anyone who thinks I'm incorrect in my understanding, please, correct me. I'd like to find that this isn't common in the FA lifestyle.

Explanation for the missing mini-review.

2009-03-15T20:48:00.001-04:00

Mein chickadee called me on it, heh. I didn't watch any movies last week. At least, nothing new to me. So, no mini-reviews to share this past Friday, sorry.

Mini-Reviews 31

2009-03-06T11:39:00.000-05:00

Trailer Park of Terror-- It's not very subtle in its charicatures and there's plenty of foreshadowing, but it's fairly well-acted, well-shot, and an entertaining, somewhat cheesy, gory little horror film, with a few [albeit sometimes fucked up] laughs along the way. Pretty good soundtrack involved, too. And an interesting cameo by Trace Adkins, though I don't think anyone who reads this will recognize him.

Watchmen-- Pretty damn good film. Insanely well cast, especially the Comedian, Rorschach, and Nite Owl II. To be perfectly frank, I still wasn't a big fan of the man chosen to play Ozymandias/Adrian Veidt. He did a well enough job, he just doesn't fit the character, visually-speaking. It wouldn't bug me so much if so much of the other cast didn't fit well. Only other minor complaint is the soundtrack. I mean, I understand that it's sort of a period piece, but, it was just somewhat jarring and entirely out of place to hear a lot of this old music start playing. Personally, I feel it should have been scored, no soundtrack.

3 Steps

2009-03-06T11:34:00.002-05:00

A new Tebo Productions film! Entitled "3 Steps". Enjoy!

This is that vid we were working on like mad for a few days. I blogged about it a few ago.

A little bit of bitching

2009-03-04T12:13:00.004-05:00

This may end up being very stream of consciousness. I've been weird the past... well, my whole life, but, more acutely the past few days. Or past... week? I'm really not sure. But... yeah. Like, I'm feeling much less talkative and I feel like I'm not engaging in conversation. Normally I do so by just asking a buttload of questions or asking for explanations/elaborations. But I'm not so much lately. I mean, I'm still just as curious, I just feel like... it's not my place, I guess? Like, it's none of my business, I shouldn't even be asking. And I find myself with nothing to say in response to things. Like, anything, even simple things. So, being that I am a very boring person with little to be talked about from my own life, I seem much less talkative. Or, I am much less talkative. I dunno. Speaking of being boring, I feel much more boring as well. I mean, I've always considered myself to be exceptionally uninteresting [which is kind of oxymoronic, now that I think about it], but, again, more acutely lately. Perhaps that has to do with being less talkative? Having these big gaps in conversation, long periods where I say/type absolutely nothing. Could be. To segue again, I think that's all I have to say. To end this, I am trembling uncontrollably for some reason... oh, wait, it passed. So, I'll end this with something else... oh, I've been eating a ridiculous amount of cereal lately. I don't know why.

EDIT: No, wait, I do have more. I feel very distant from everyone lately. Again, I'm pretty sure all of this goes back to being less talkative. Except for the cereal thing, I think that's unrelated. But, less conversation, less sense of connection? Maybe? When did I become reliant on that connection to feel well? Blegh. The internet's also very frustrating lately, for somewhat related reasons.

Enneagram

2009-03-01T23:41:00.006-05:00

Your result for The Quick & Painless ENNEAGRAM Test...

6 - the Questioner

Thanks for taking the test !

you chose CY - your Enneagram type is SIX (aka "The Loyalist").

"I am affectionate and skeptical"

Questioners are responsible, trustworthy, and value loyalty to family,
friends, groups, and causes. Their personalities range broadly from reserved
and timid to outspoken and confrontative.

How to Get Along with Me

Be direct and clear.

Listen to me carefully.

Don't judge me for my anxiety.

Work things through with me.

Reassure me that everything is OK between us.

Laugh and make jokes with me.

Gently push me toward new experiences.

Try not to overreact to my overreacting.

What I Like About Being a SIX

being committed and faithful to family and friends

being responsible and hardworking

being compassionate toward others

having intellect and wit

being a nonconformist

confronting danger bravely

being direct and assertive

What's Hard About Being a SIX

the constant push and pull involved in trying to make up my mind

procrastinating because of fear of failure; having little confidence
in myself

fearing being abandoned or taken advantage of

exhausting myself by worrying and scanning for danger

wishing I had a rule book at work so I could do everything right

being too critical of myself when I haven't lived up to my expectations

SIXes as Children Often

are friendly, likable, and dependable, and/or sarcastic, bossy, and
stubborn

are anxious and hypervigilant; anticipate danger

form a team of "us against them" with a best friend or parent

look to groups or authorities to protect them and/or question authority and rebel

are neglected or abused, come from unpredictable or alcoholic families, and/or take on the fearfulness of an overly anxious parent

SIXes as Parents

are often loving, nurturing, and have a strong sense of duty

are sometimes reluctant to give their children independence

worry more than most that their children will get hurt

sometimes have trouble saying no and setting boundaries

Renee Baron & Elizabeth Wagele

The Enneagram Made Easy

Discover the 9 Types of People

Harper
SanFrancisco, 1994, 161 pages

Take The Quick & Painless ENNEAGRAM Test at HelloQuizzy

M.I.A. but not K.I.A.

2009-03-01T11:07:00.003-05:00

So, I've been disappeared for the last couple o' days, for the most part. I popped in for a short while on Friday to see what the internets were up to, but, mostly been gone.

I've been working with Tebo on a new film, and we've got a sort of deadline. There's a film festival coming up, the SUNYWide Film Festival [SUNY stands for State University of New York, it's... I don't know what to call it, but, it's a family of dozens of colleges] and Tebo and I wish to enter our short film [called "3 Steps"]. All entries must be in by March 6th, though, so we've been working pretty hard and relatively non-stop to get it done in time. For example, I got up at 7:16 AM yesterday, Tebo came 'round about 8:00 AM or 8:30-ish, somewhere in between there, we went to his house, and worked on the film all day until we left his house at 12:30 AM today, technically. Only time we weren't working was when made a quick run to the post office and when we had some dinner at around 7:40 PM. We didn't rush it, mind you, we just sort of worked on it all at once instead of in bits and pieces over the course of a week or more.

Anyway, so, we finally completed "3 Steps" and I'm exceptionally pleased with it. We put a lot of work in it, did some new stuff for Tebo Productions vids, and it all came out great. Now! The trick is finding some way for anyone other than ourselves to see it. That includes the SUNYWide Film Festival, as we're having issues getting it into the format they want; we'll have to see if they will accept other formats or if it's a "Do it this way or you don't get in!" situation. But, aside from that, we've started working in a much higher quality of video and sound as of "3 Steps", which of course ups the file size, meaning it may not go up on YouTube, we'll see. We far exceed the 100MB file size limit set on non-Partners and I'm not even sure how small we can make it, no matter how much we degrade the quality. It's less than five minutes long and it renders out at 771 MB. So... yep. It may be the greatest Tebo Productions film so far that only a half of a dozen people will ever see.

Not to mention some crediting issues that are starting to aggravate and, to a certain degree, offend me.

Fun little post script to all of that:
At least my body was kind enough not to rebel against me until after we were finished with everything. As I said, left Tebo's at about 12:30 AM and got home around ten to 1:00 AM. Went to bed at 1:30 AM. Woke up sometime around four with awful stomach pains and very nauseous and... just not feelin' well at all. So, y'know, at least this bloated, disgusting carcass within which I reside had the courtesy to wait. It's not usually so kind at all.

Mini-Reviews 30

2009-02-27T10:13:00.001-05:00

No Reservations-- Not too bad. I love Aaron Eckhart, that guy's a great actor, and Catherine Zeta-Jones isn't too bad, either. Not a big fan of films that kind of crash-land into the ending, though, and it's fairly cliché, but not a bad little rom-com.

Jet Li's Fearless-- Excellent film. Great fight choreography and a wonderful story. But, if you're someone who hates reading your movies, you won't like it, 95% of it's in Chinese and subtitled English.

Because of the two bowls of Lucky Charms?

2009-02-25T11:20:00.002-05:00

So, I'm off to college. Weird start to begin with. I have no idea where, consider it an unnamed location. And it's... odd. We [folk incoming] are all outside on a huuuuge lawn, just chillin'. Oh, P.S., Tebo's apparently going to this college as well. I don't remember him being around at this point, but, it's just dream-knowledge, y'know? Anyway, I don't know who any of the people around me are, but I'm goofin' off with some of them and, of course, checkin' out the ladies present.

So, some sort of announcement is made and we're all heading inside, and people are grabbing their pillows, as we were told to do, and some people are also getting a blanket. One of the people nearby me has a stack of around 15 pillows or so, but I think it may have just been a communal pile because several people are grabbing pillows from it. And, in my dream-head, I wondered if this was something being offered by the facility, but I decide not to chance it and I look around for other alternatives. Because, y'know, I can't go in without a pillow. Lo and behold, I see a pile of my stuff, with a pillow on top! So, I grab it and head inside.

Once inside, we're all herded along to various auditorium/theatres. I walk inside the one I'm directed toward and see that there's not a lot of people yet, so, there's a good choice of seats. I look around and see a relatively empty area off to the left. I take a seat there, near the back, and sit and wait. There is a person [I'm honestly not sure of gender, but I think perhaps male?] to the side of the screen in the front with some sort of machinery, possibly a computer? It kind of looks like a projector, but, clearly a poor angle to project anything on to the screen. Anyway, remember that person is there. As the lights start to dim, a young lady [who looks like Nora Zehetner, but isn't actually her or any of her characters, y'know what I mean? Well, maybe her short-lived character in May. Anyway, it just looks and sounds like her] asks to sit next to me. Being the courteous gentleman I am, I agree.

This part gets kind o' fuzzy [I should have written this down sooner, it's already starting to fade]. A movie started playing on the screen. I don't know exactly what it was, all I remember is that it was lame. And somehow I started to hit it off with the young lady. Then, again somehow, it came to my attention that Tebo was in the same row as me, just across the aisle [did I mention I was sitting in the seat right next to the aisle? I don't think I did] dickin' around on his laptop. And we got talking to something about Batman costumes that we were going to dress up for [not Halloween, I know that much] and he was going to just do his Joker thing again, and he was asking me if I was going to go as Harley Quinn. Or maybe I suggested it? Can't remember for sure. But the young lady [have you noticed I don't know what her name was yet?] interjected with a question about two Batman books [one of which was Joker, I don't remember the second] which we obviously answered for her.

Also, there was something about the kind of humor I'm into that Tebo mentioned. He said something about me being into things that play-on-words, or jokes based around mishearing or misunderstanding. He even had an example from a film, but, I don't remember either the film or the example, but it had something to do with paying for something with a Mandarin orange [that was the misheard line]. I don't even know if that's from a real film or not, but, dream-I was familiar with it.

At this point, the film stopped, the lights turned on, and whomever the guy/gal down at the front was started yelling at me and Tebo to shut up. XD Then the film resumed.

The young lady opens her own laptop and we start typing messages to each other in Notepad. I don't remember what exactly [at least for this part], but I think it was just kind o' light flirty stuff and just general get-to-know-you conversation.

Okay, here's where it gets really weird. A man gets up on the opposite corner of the room and walks around in front of the screen and then up the aisle toward us. Bringing two bags of clothing and his pillow. That's not the weird part, because, and I shit you not, it's Broly. For those of you not as geeky, that's a character from a few Dragon Ball Z movies. Not the television series, the movies. And I don't mean, like, a real person version, either. I mean a cartoon was walking towards us. Like a scene straight out of Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, man. How I didn't notice the animé character earlier on in the dream, I don't know. My sub-conscious is just making this up as we go along, it's all ad-lib. And it's not out of place, dream-I does not question it. And he's huge! Not just muscle-bound and ripped, he's also about nine feet tall.

So, anyway, he comes up and he starts strutting and trying to show off for the young lady. XD She shuts him down, though, and in a final effort to show off how strong he is, he throws his two bags and pillow across the auditorium/theatre. The first bag of clothing doesn't make it, it lands on a guy in the audience, who kindly just throws it along to where it's meant to be. The second bag of clothes makes it, and then the pillow doesn't fly far enough and hits another person. Funniest part, a little more dream-knowledge, it's not that his throw isn't strong enough. His aim is awful. XD Broly sulks back to his seat.

We're nearing the end, I promise. The young lady and I resume our Notepad chatting, and she asks me a question... I don't remember what it was, but I remember it being poignant and I turn the laptop away from her so she can't see what I'm typing in response. After a few moments, in the middle of my typing, she teases, "You could have just said 'It's all right.'" To which Tebo pipes up, not even bothering to look up from his laptop screen, "Good luck with that. He's quite verbose." She laughs and smiles at me and then I wake up.

Y'know, dream-Tebo is correct, I'm quite the verbose motherfucker.

I'm Just A Statistic!

2009-02-20T21:54:00.001-05:00

I found a study that I can't argue against personally. But I still don't buy it. XD It's worth a laugh, though.

Mini-Reviews 29

2009-02-20T14:20:00.000-05:00

Max Payne-- Pretty much boring. I mean, the acting is great, I love Mark Wahlberg and Ludacris was a nice surprise, I didn't know he was in this film, and visually it looks cool, has a very nice comic-book-movie feel to the lighting and shots, but... it just didn't hold my interest, the story was kind o' blah, felt like it needed to be fleshed out more. Y'know what it feels like, to me? A very long first half.

I hate titles, I'm bad at them

2009-02-15T21:20:00.003-05:00

The venerable Mr. G mentioned earlier the fact that I don't really update much. I mean, I do the mini-reviews each week, but, I think he meant more of legitimate updates. And there's a good reason for that. First of all, I can never remember details to put into a blog when treating it like a diary or journal; when recounting events. And I the few times I have tried that style of blogging I hate it, I always feel like I'm forgetting something. I'm just not good at that.

As for my usual bloggings about random things or just ranting about how I feel... haven't had any random things I wanted to blog about. I take that back, I did earlier this morning, but I put it off and now I can't remember what it was. And I haven't done any introspective rants about myself because, well, for anything I want to talk about here is someone I don't want to read it whom may or may not still read this blog.

There's something: I never assume anyone reads this thing. Is that strange? Like, I'm always a little bit surprised any time there's a comment. "Oh, whoa, someone read that." Y'know? I dunno, just a little aside.

So, that's why there've not been any updates, except for the mini-reviews, if anyone else was wondering.

Mini-Reviews 28

2009-02-13T10:40:00.000-05:00

Knockaround Guys-- Decent movie. I'm really not sure what else to say about it. I don't know that I would recommend it as a must-see to everyone, but, it's still pretty good.

Mini-Reviews 27

2009-02-06T10:59:00.000-05:00

Taken-- Excellent film! Liam Neeson kickin' ass and even takin' a few names.

Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist-- Very sweet movie, I think, albeit fairly cliché at times. Still good, and not just because I adore Kat Dennings!

Brick-- Excellent film! I'm not sure I would recommend it to everyone, though. It's a bit quirky and stylized, but an excellent film that keeps you watching. Think film noir with teenagers. There's enough you can figure out on your own but still some things that'll come out of nowhere and surprise you.

Mini-Reviews 26

2009-01-30T19:36:00.000-05:00

Sorry it's a bit late.

Midnight Movie-- Really well-made film, and overall pretty good acting. But the plot and dialogue just strikes me as uninspired and did pretty much nothing to hold my interest. It'd be interesting to see Jack Messitt make a film with a better written script, though.

It was pretty cool seeing some of the theatre things, though, since that stuff's pretty realistic, at least from my time spent working at a theatre.

The Batpod's stupid

2009-01-29T14:10:00.003-05:00

I've tried to get used to the Batpod from The Dark Knight, I really have. But I just can't, I do not find it appealing at all, aesthetically speaking. It just looks ridiculous to me.

Granted, I thought the same thing about the Tumbler when Batman Begins first came out, but that was different. I was merely upset at the change from the more classical Batmobile, which I adore. But, I got over that pretty quickly and I've come to love the Tumbler, it's badass.

But, seriously, the Batpod is stupid, no matter how many times I watch The Dark Knight.

Yeah, that's all, I just wanted to get that off my chest.

Physical self-examination is much more fun

2009-01-24T01:25:00.005-05:00

So, whenever one of my friends would start dating someone I'd get this... bizarre feeling. Bizarre and entirely unpleasant. And for the longest time I've struggled with what the hell it is exactly. I think I finally figured it out.

You see, the most obvious explanation to me was jealousy. This is more for another blog for another time, but, long story short [and with some helpful alliteration], I fall for folk fairly fast. But, jealousy's never sounded correct to me. I mean, I'm a jealous son of a bitch, don't get me wrong, but this is a different feeling entirely. What else could it be, though? I think I finally figured it out.

I've realized it's not jealousy; rather, I'm over-protective. It's a feeling of worry, which I should have recognized all along considering I worry so often.

There have been instances where it is, in fact, jealousy, of course. But it's not jealousy every single time and with every single person. And it's not entirely jealousy even when I am feeling envious. I worry a lot. And I hate seeing my friends get hurt. And when they enter into an intimate relationship with some man or woman I don't know at all I immediately worry for their well-being. This other person is an unknown, to me at least, and they're opening themselves to them. And my mind likes to come up with worst possible scenarios first.

So... I'm a little less shitty than I thought.

Thank you for joining me on this insight inside my mind. Please remain seated until the ride has come to a complete stop, then depart in an orderly manner.

Mini-Reviews 25

2009-01-23T11:00:00.000-05:00

Babylon A.D.-- It's nice seeing Vin Diesel doing action movies again, and the action's entertaining although Vin's tough guy character is a bit played out nowadays. But the film kind o' peters out near the end, I think.

Mirrors-- Not a bad movie, per se, but not terribly intriguing, either. Honestly, it has several moments where it's downright ridiculous. But! It has one of the most horrifying scenes I've seen in a horror film. You need to see the unrated version of this film just to see the bathtub scene with Amy Smart. You can turn the DVD off after that point for all I care, but, that is a must-see scene in my opinion.

Who dat? Who dere?

2009-01-20T09:40:00.002-05:00

I'm curious how many and who read/reads this tripe, so, if you're here and reading this right now, drop a comment in the bottom there. Names would be appreciated, but, you can leave it anonymous if you've any desire to remain unknown. Secret!

Mini-Reviews 24

2009-01-16T12:48:00.001-05:00

Fear-- I'm not sure how I've managed to never hear of this movie before. Mark Wahlberg, Reese Witherspoon, and William Petersen are all pretenders whom I admire. How how how? Anyway, it's a very good movie, especially Mark Wahlberg's performance.

Hancock-- I don't understand why people are disappointed with this movie, I loved it. It's very funny and I love the character of John Hancock; I think he's terribly intriguing.
POSSIBLE SPOILER
I was a bit iffy when they introduced the female counterpart, but, it turned out better than I thought. I wasn't much of a fan of how it ended, though. Very powerful, then it cut to the "One Month Later" stuff that kind o' killed it for me.
/POSSIBLE SPOILER

Horton Hears A Who!-- I thought it was pretty good. I mean, you're pretty much going to know whether you like it or not before you even start watching it, but, yeah. This is more of a straight-up kid's movie as opposed to something like Shrek with lots of jokes for the adults, as well. So, as long as you dig children's films, you'll probably enjoy it.

2009-01-13T16:52:00.003-05:00

So, anyone else seen or heard of PETA's new ad campaign? If not, you should click that funny-colored text right there, it's definitely worth reading. I'll wait.

So, yeah... XDDDD

I'll repeat a couple of my favorite quotes:

"Most parents would never dream of spending a weekend torturing kittens for fun with their families, but hooking a sea kitten through the mouth and dragging her through the water is the same as hooking a kitten through the mouth and dragging her behind your car."
-- Ashley Byrne, PETA campaign coordinator

Now, maybe I'm just an evil motherfucker, but that made me cackle. XD

"I think I may eat some sea kittens tonight."
-- Brian Dixon, National Marine Fisheries Service management biologist

XDD The utter disdain I can imagine in his voice as he makes a mockery of this campaign is wunderbar.

And if you get a chance, look at these "bedtime stories". That is some dark, macabre shit in there. I have never in my life been so depressed by fish. XD

How To Look Less Like A Dork 101

2009-01-11T17:43:00.003-05:00

So, I was struck by a random memory earlier that... actually occurs quite frequently, but, whatever. I figured I'd share it.

So, in the fifth grade I was a fat nerdy kid with glasses and a mullet. Struth. And I had this great friend named... Nicole, I'm pretty sure. Now, as everyone knows, all nerdy kids push up their glasses by using the tip of either their forefinger or middle finger to push the center of their spectacles along the bridge of their nose. My friend Nicole saw me do this in the lunch line one day. She stops me and says, "You know, you'd look cooler if you pull them back by the earpiece instead."

No real importance, just felt like sharing.

Funny thing is, that's the only memory I have of her. Can't remember much of what she looked like. Long, dark, curly haired white girl who wore a leather jacket a lot of the time, and that's all I can remember. And I have no later memories of her. I remember that being some time in the first half of the school year. Nothing before or after.

But I always remember that when I push my glasses up on to my face.

Look at the elephant, mommy!

2009-01-10T13:58:00.004-05:00

So, Britney Spears' Circus...

Can't help it, every album always has at least a couple good songs that I enjoy. At least, for the past couple. So, I like to give them a listen to hear what's there. I'm only about halfway through it, but, there's one line in particular, on the track "If U Seek Amy":

"Love me or hate me, but can't you see what I see?
All of the boys, and all of the girls, are begging to F-U-C-K me"

I literally rewound the track to double check what I heard. Had me laughing my ass off. XD

In Addendum: If you're gonna swear on your album, just fuckin' swear. Don't edit it out, it's annoying.

Hatchet Review on YouTube

2009-01-09T18:18:00.002-05:00

That pretty much says it all, huh?

To make it official

2009-01-09T14:14:00.003-05:00

Anyone other than Mr. G remember that bass song I was talking about in a vid a while back? Well, it's gonna be a bit before that is finished. Y'see, I jacked up the... cord that goes from the bass to the amp. I should really learn what that's called. But, that doesn't work anymore, so, until I'm less unemployed, that's on hold.

Mini-Reviews 23

2009-01-09T14:13:00.001-05:00

The Woods-- I'm growing quite fond of Lucky McKee. May is a phenomenal film, and this isn't bad, either. Nothing terribly astounding, but it's an interesting little supernatural mystery. Plus an awesome little role played by Bruce Campbell.

Woot whoop, bitches!

2009-01-05T19:49:00.002-05:00

I have a complete bathroom floor. Hell yeah!

Unfortunately, the toilet tank leaks and the bolts need to be changed. Blaaaah. It's almost annoying having a landlord who actually fixes stuff, haha.

If it's not one fucking thing, it's a-gods-damned-nother

2009-01-03T14:58:00.003-05:00

So, I recorded Just Between Us today. What's that, you want to hear it? Oh, that's wicked unfortunate, because I can't clean it up and mix it and make it sound less like butt! For some bizarre fucking reason I'm only getting sound out of the left speaker on the computer I use to record and mix. So, whee, awesome, huh? Yet another in a long line of excuses for why this damned project's on hold. >_<

In a related change of subject, I'm not entirely certain how this will affect vids for YouTube, as sound engineering is far less important for those. I'll get back to you on that. And, I'm still waiting on a few gifts I have yet to receive for birthday and Christmas this year and then I'll be doing a vid showing what I got.

P.S., fuck you technology! At times I'm almost tempted to become a Luddite and be done with it.

Mini-Reviews 22

2009-01-02T11:09:00.001-05:00

The Legend of Bagger Vance-- First of all, I hate golf. And this movie is set against a golf tournament. Yeck. But, don't hold that against it! It's a good movie; amusing and heartwarming, although I could have done without all the "GOLF IS GREAT!" dialogue.

Pissed off kids are funny

2009-01-01T10:58:00.002-05:00

Which is why I antagonize little shits.

So, quick back story, I woke up this morning to my mother yelling at Laurie, my sister, because she took my mother's glasses while we were sleeping and played with them. And subsequently lost them.

So, understandably, she was told she's not allowed to watch anything on television until my mothers glasses are found, and probably not even then. We will instead listen to my mother's choice of music. Well, they will. Laurie is displeased. She's sitting on the couch screaming, and she yells, "I just want a decent life! Without music! I don't even have a nice mom!" XD

And just now! I told her she couldn't play one of my Pokémon games on her GBA because she just walked in and started taking it out of the case without asking. She stomps out of the room to my mother's bedroom and tries to slam the door shut, but she fails in this task because her big, pink horse is in the way. I laugh [natch]. She gets even more infuriated and is yelling "SHUT UP!" while she moves the pink horse and tries to slam the door shut again... and hits something else that was in the way of the door closing. XDDD

Mini-Reviews 21

2008-12-26T23:18:00.001-05:00

It's still Friday!!

The Simpsons Movie-- Meh. Introducing an actual plotline, drama, and romance doesn't work completely with The Simpsons. Sometimes it really does. For instance, the tape that Marge leaves Homer is honestly heartbreaking. But the first half of the film is boring, with the last 20 or 30 minutes being the only thing exciting or at all interesting. And, surprisingly, not as funny as I expected. Funniest moment, though, is when the polar bear kicks the fox. XD

Holy Hell, I did something

2008-12-23T23:27:00.003-05:00

So, I've been making a lot of entries lately, but, son of a bitch, I did stuff today.

And by stuff, I mean I was bombin' around a variety of shopping centers with some friends.

We went all over the place: Heroes Your Mom Threw Out [comic book shop, which was fuckin' closed!], Rite Aid, Walgreens, Toys 'R' Us, the Arnot Shopping Mall [FYE, GameStop, a couch and recliner store, Waldenbooks, Spencer's, a pet store, Victoria's Secret, JoAnn Fabrics], Dix Sporting Goods, Kohl's, Wal-Mart, K-Mart... I think that's every place we went.

Not really any amazing stories from the day that I can think of... I know there are some, I'm just drawing a complete blank. Which is good, because in truth there are probably so many amusing tidbits that I'd have way too much typing to do. We did, however, get lost on the way to the comic shop. Only because they had moved their place of business and left a note on the door with the address. Finding it was sooo much fun. XD

But, yeah, I had quite the adventurous, entertaining day. (^_^) Unfortunately, I think I missed my chance for an awesome phone call. :( Bummer of a way to end the day.

Bathroom Exploits

2008-12-22T21:33:00.002-05:00

So, spent the majority of today helping [read, mostly watching and learning while helping where I could] Tim [the maintenance guy] work on the bathroom floor some more. Replaced all the floorboards that needed replacing, put down floor leveler, and started putting down the tile, which I think looks really nice by the by. Got more than half of it down, so almost done. Also, lifted the corner of the tub so that it doesn't leak over the edge anymore. Woot! So, the problem won't repeat itself any time soon hopefully.

Unfortunately, the toilet's leaking now and needs a new hose. At least it's the clean water running into the tank that's leaking and not sewage. Whew. But, not a huge problem, we've just had to turn the tank on to fill and flush then back off again. Not a big deal, had to do that for years at the old house, haha.

But! The current problems are almost fixed! I'm sure more will go wrong. The lighting fixture worries me, but, we'll see, we'll see.

I Suck (Not A Gay Topic)

2008-12-20T23:32:00.002-05:00

Yeah, I stole it from you, G. What're you gonna do about it? =P

So, I've fallen into a sedentary lifestyle. Hell, falling is too active a word, allow me to rephrase: I've slowly slipped, purely through gravitational pull and no exertion on my part, into a sedentary lifestyle. I've just stopped working on damn near anything: vids, music, reviews, anything. The only thing I still maintain is the weekly mini-reviews, and that really is the least I could do; it requires nigh no effort. The only thing I do is play vidgames, watch movies, and listen to music.

My hopes are, though, that now I'll shake that off and get back to work on something. I've been sitting on this spoken word album for one excuse or another, the latest is that I have no artwork involved whatsoever, but fuck it, I'll just record it, zip it, and put it up for all five of the people who'll listen to it. I've got vids I want to get done [I'm sorry to everyone who've been waiting on me for vids, Shep, brody, I still want to do that vid with you Franny, I promise!], and some other ideas I don't want to get into in case they fall through for whatever reason.

But, the more I think about it, the more I wonder if any of this'll actually happen. The biggest reason for my sudden apathy and lack of activity is a direct result of my severe lack of motivation. It's really one of the few major problems I have in life, I just don't see a reason to do things. For instance, why did I drop out of high school? Well... actually, because I had just stopped going so it only made sense to get the paperwork out of the way and make it official. But I stopped showing up in the first place because I just didn't see the point and couldn't find a good enough reason for me to go. The only reason I kept going as long as I did was because of my girlfriend at the time and the friends I had. But after breaking up with the girlfriend and the majority of my friends stopped wanting to spend time with me, I had no reason to go anymore.

Or take my inability to gain employment. I'm really not that upset about it. What's the point? Yeah, I'd like to have a paycheck, but, not terribly. I'd just buy vidgames and movies, after all. Sure, I could save up and get an apartment, get out on my own. But to what avail? So that I have someplace to sit by myself and watch movies and play vidgames when I'm not working? I don't see people for days as it is, I really don't think that would change if I had a different place of residence. I just play vidgames and watch movies alone, unless I see someone on Xbox Live, and then I'll play a vidgame with them, but still ostensibly alone. I can do that now, and without having to deal with the general public. So why bother getting a job and moving out to do the same things I do now?

There are numerous examples of my apathy and... what's an antonym for motivation? I can't think of one... anyway, there are many examples, but I think you see my point. If I can find no good reason to do something, I find it very difficult to motivate myself, even if I know I should. If I don't know why I should... *shrugs*

So, what was I saying? I think I got distracted, this whole entry is kind of train-of-thought writing that I'm not even bothering to reread... oh, right! Getting around to working on things, music, vids, life. I'm not sure if I'll ever actually do these things as it's becoming increasingly difficult to find reasons for motivation. But I hope I do, maybe starting tomorrow, in fact.

Okay, that's enough. I hope this entry makes sense to someone and isn't too much of a jumbled mess. XD

Mini-Reviews 20

2008-12-19T12:14:00.001-05:00

The Basketball Diaries-- This film has been on my list of movies to see for, like, ten years now. Good movie, even though it feels a little rushed. DiCaprio's performance is great, and it was interesting seeing a younger Mark Wahlberg.

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginnings-- If you've seen the 2004 remake of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and enjoyed it, here's more of the same, so enjoy. If you didn't, you won't dig this one, either. Has some interesting little explanations that tie into the remake as well. If you haven't seen either of these and you decide to watch this one, I hope you like blood, gore, and screams.

Mirror's Edge

2008-12-18T19:59:00.002-05:00

Shep wanted to know about Mirror's Edge, so, here we go.

IIIII like it a lot. It's far from perfect, but, I still had a lot of fun with it. It's a refreshing change from all the FPS games.

It's crazy short though. I beat it twice in two days, once on Normal last night and I beat it a little while ago on Hard. The Story Mode, anyway, the Time Trials and Speedruns are a whole other matter entirely.

Some issues with it, though. For one thing, the cutscenes look like butt. I just don't dig the style of animation, it looks cheap and poorly-made, I don't care if it's supposed to be stylized. It looks great when it's still, but as soon as it animated, ew. Looks like one of those crappy cartoons on Adult Swim.

In addition, the controls sometimes just don't work. There's a few instances where you will not be able to figure out why Faith isn't grabbing the fucking ledge. Specific moments where she'll only do what she's supposed to three or four times out of ten. And you won't even know why you can't make it, it just seems random. But there're just a few instances of that, so it's not a huge deal, just worth mentioning.

A couple minor issues: all the white can sometimes blur together and make distinguishing things difficult. That may be just on SDTV's, though, I imagine it's clearer in high definition. And, of course, there are some instances of cheap deaths, but, what platforming game doesn't have those? It's certainly not rampant, just mildly annoying.

Oh, I almost forgot my biggest problem! The load times. When you first start up a level, I don't mind a long load time. And the load time for your last checkpoint after a death is remarkably short, usually. But each chapter has at least two, I think, moments where the game stops and it reads "Loading Level" at the bottom left of the screen. And it'll sit there for a good 10-30 seconds. It's annoying as hell. Maybe this isn't such an issue with the PS3, and won't be for the PC, I don't know. But it's certainly present for the 360 version.

Some good things? The score, I like the music a lot. The voice-acting's good, as well, though the story itself is kind of meh. Not bad, just unsurprising. The gameplay itself is terribly fun, the parkour aspects of it especially, and the gunplay isn't bad. Nothing really broken or poorly-implemented that I found in my two playthroughs.

And there you are, some of my quick thoughts on Mirror's Edge. Final summation: if you have a PS3 or 360, play this game. If you've got a PC, give it a little time, it'll be out in about a month.

I need to stop being gone all day.

2008-12-16T23:01:00.002-05:00

So, hey, another long day wherein I wasn't at the computer much. I spent most of the morning clearing out some of the shit off of my computer because I desperately needed more space [which I'll get into later] and then ran the defrag for the main HDD. Whee, so, that kept me from the computer most of the day. Then, I was helping [mostly watching] Tim, the maintenance guy, fix our bathroom floor [which I'll also get into later in this since, like, two of you even know what the fuck I'm talking about XD].

And! I got Mirror's Edge today, squee! (^______^) So terribly excited, and really, really hoping it doesn't turn out to be an awful game. Haven't been able to get into it, being busy all day and such, and I'm putting it off for tonight because I want to try and get to bed early. But, more importantly, I'd much rather talk with what few friends are still online by this point in the day, and if I start playing my new game I'll become engrossed and start unintentionally ignoring them. Not good. But tomorrow, I'm playing the shit out of that game, let me tell you.

So, the bathroom floor. While we were looking over the new place before moving in, the first thing I noticed was that the floor in the bathroom was damaged as hell from water. The toilet was sinking into the floor on the right side and was leaning far enough that it made the tank drain drip by drop and refill itself repeatedly all day long. No fun. Long story short [too late], the front end of the tub, the end with the faucets, had settled into the floor and tilted the wrong way so that instead of the water running to the corner of the tub where it can sit and drain back into the tub and not cause problems it was running to the other edge out on to the floor and soaking into the floor. This probably would not have been such a big deal, but, instead of plywood the floor had been cheaply redone at some point and they used OSB [Sterling board] which acts like a sponge as soon as it gets wet, apparently. So, instead of the water drying up, it was trapped in the OSB and just causing as much water damage as it could. But, anyway, replaced the floor where it was damaged, and now my toilet is level! And, we replaced the toilet seat, which bit me a couple times, so, yeah! No more bitey toilet seat!

Okay, the space issue on my computer is next. As I was looking through my music files today, deciding what could go and what I really didn't want to ever delete,I came to the realization that my packrat tendencies extend to the internet. Specifically when it comes to downloading music. It's far too easy to find and download an entire discography of a band via torrents. XD So, I'd hear a song I like, look 'em up, then download their entire discography and keep it around. Maybe listen to it once. As you can imagine, it put quite a strain, especially since this computer's shit and does not have very large HDDs. A short explanation for that one.

So, to conclude this, I'm going to try and post here more often and treat it like an actual blog. The reason I don't is because I either can't remember all that happened by the end of a day, don't think it's really worth typing about, or don't have anything worth saying. So, no way in hell is it ever going to be a day-by-day rundown of everything I do, but, I'll try to post the more worthwhile or interesting things instead of never getting around to it. Like the bathroom floor thing, I could have posted about that weeks ago, just, didn't feel like it. Well, no more of that!

Mini-Reviews 19

2008-12-13T00:39:00.001-05:00

Meatballs-- 1979 summer camp movie with Bill Murray. That's right, a 30-year-old film. Anyway, it's not that great, heh. Some funny moments, but that's about it. It's just not a well-made, cohesive film.

Y'know what I miss?

2008-12-06T21:30:00.005-05:00

Having friends to hang out with. Those were pretty good times, pretty good times.

Mini-Reviews 18

2008-12-05T11:25:00.001-05:00

Blood and Chocolate-- In the beginning it's ridiculous and somewhat pretentious. It gets better, though, pretty quickly. Around the time Aiden and Vivian are falling in love. And remains good for the rest of the film. So, over-all, it's pretty good, but if you're not a fan of these kind o' movies already, don't expect to have your mind changed by this film.

Mini-Reviews 17

2008-11-28T20:44:00.001-05:00

Fuck me, it's Friday, whoops!

Not only Friday? It's the 28th? Of November? Of 2008? Seriously? Jesus, time needs to slow down.

Wall-E-- Ohhhh, I love this movie now. (^_^) It's the sweetest, most adorable story of two robots in love. <3<3<3

Whew

2008-11-23T15:53:00.003-05:00

So, as of yesterday, I'm moved into the new place. I don't have all of my stuff just yet, but, enough to live with and keep myself entertained, so, good enough, eh? The rest of the stuff, as well as the rest of the family and their stuff, will be coming on Tuesday, so, whee, but for the time being, I'm enjoying having the place to myself. (^_^)

By the by, I posted a new vid in response to Shep on YouTube, check it out.

P.S., anyone who had the old address and landline number and wants the new information, let me know.

Mini-Reviews 17

2008-11-21T09:57:00.001-05:00

Hellboy II: The Golden Army-- One question. Why do they continue to send normal humans along with Hellboy and his crew? XD Great film.

Tropic Thunder-- I've heard mixed reviews of this film, so I wasn't sure what to expect. But, I thought it was pretty good. Some great laughs, especially Tom Cruise and Robert Downey, Jr., and even some good action moments. The satire of pop culture was hilarious and terribly true. It had its moments where it was boring or nonsensical, sure, but as a whole I liked the film.

A little more about Gears of War 2

2008-11-18T12:51:00.002-05:00

And it's in vid format.

Also, I make mention of the New Xbox Experience that comes out tomorrow.

Gears of War 2 Review (Because I was told to do it)

2008-11-17T17:06:00.004-05:00

I was considering not doing a review for Gears 2, but, who am I to not do whatever a lovely lass asks of me? (^_^) So, I've decided to do a written review for Gears of War 2, as opposed to a video review, for a variety of reasons. First and foremost, I've got enough vids planned that I still have not done. Secondly, I still don't have a way of capturing video for doing these reviews and I can not believe that people want to sit and watch me blather on about a game without seeing even a second of gameplay footage, so, I'll just do a written review and hope people are okay with reading it, haha. This is very long, and I've probably forgotten to mention something despite reading over it a couple times to double check. And away we go.

---Story
It's been six months since the Lightmass Bomb was set off underground and the Locust Horde have returned with a vengeance. Somehow they've found a way to sink entire cities and the last bastion for human civilization, Jacinto, is under threat. In the hopes of saving their city, the COG is striking back at the heart by sending soldiers directly underground to fight back against the Horde.

The writing still takes a back seat to the gameplay, much like with the first Gears of War, but it's clearly stronger this time around. Which I feel is attributable to the inclusion of Joshua Ortega in the writing process. While still weak in certain aspects, particularly with some lines of dialogue, it has one of the most emotional, heart-breaking scenes I've seen in a vidgame thus far. I don't want to spoil it for anyone, but the people who've played the game know what I'm talking about.

But let's be honest with ourselves, the majority of people who play a Gears game don't come to it for the story and I don't think it's really envisioned by the people working on it as a story-driven game, so we'll move on.

---Controls & Gameplay
If you've played Gears 1, you've got the controls for Gears 2 down already. For the sake of the review, though, I'll run through the controls.

Right trigger fires your weapon
Left trigger allows you to aim your weapon.
Right button reloads.
Left button shows your Tac/Com to check position and status of your team and your current

objectives.
Left stick controls your movement.
Right stick controls the camera.
D-pad chooses your weapons.
Pressing A puts you into cover or makes you dive in the direction indicated by the left stick. Holding A makes you roadie run. Pressing A near a downed enemy will pick them up as a meatshield.
B melees, revs the chainsaw if held while the Lancer is equipped, or sticks grenades to walls or people if grenades are equipped. Pressing B near a downed enemy while a special execution weapon is equipped with perform a specific execution.
X is your general interaction button: grabbing ammo and guns, kicking open doors, pressing buttons, etc. Pressing X near a downed enemy with curb stomp them.
Y shows you points of interest, which are generally prompted on the bottom of the screen anyway. Pressing Y near a downed enemy will perform a three-punch beatdown, unless a special execution weapon is equipped.
Start brings up the options menu.
Back skips cutscenes and shows the Leaderboard during multiplayer matches.

First of all, let's get the minor changes out of the way first. The roadie run is a bit slower, the clip sizes are different, smoke grenades now stun nearby enemies when they detonate, and the cover mechanic is improved slightly. I still have the occasional issue where it won't let me into cover when someone else is already attached to it or it'll drag me across to cover I'm not even near when what I wanted to do was dodge aside, but these things don't happen as often. Other than that, it works much the same, which is to say, great.

But, there have been several new weapons added, including the Scorcher flamethrower and mortars, as well as an Ink grenade that expels a cloud of poison. Speaking of grenades, there's also a new way to deploy grenades as proximity mines. Simply meleeing a wall while you have the grenade equipped will accomplish this phenomenally useful feat.

And let's not forget the new executions. No longer is it the same old curb stomp with X if you want to really take out an enemy. Now there are 11 different executions with a variety of weapons. For instance, pressing Y while you have the Torque Bow equipped will have your character place the opponents neck against the Torque Bow blade then kick the back of his head while simultaneously pulling back on the Bow, effectively decapitating your enemy. It is delightfully violent.

Yet another new thing added to the gameplay are several new enemies, such as the Grinder, which is a huge Locust walking around with a Mulcher, and the Mauler, which is another huge Locust, but with a large shield that will deflect the majority of your shots and a morningstar with quite the reach. It's not all large Locust, though, there has been a much smaller, though no less deadly, enemy added to the roster. That's the Ticker, which is a living land mine that will race at you then explode.

And finally, there are several vehicles portions of the game where you get to drive a Centaur (which is a COG tank), a Reaver, and even a Brumak.

---Graphics
The graphics are improved, though to my unprofessional eye it doesn't appear to be by much. But, it is there... seriously, I'm not the guy to ever ask about graphics. >_> I know whether it looks good or does not look good, and that's as much as I know. There is an issue, though, where sometimes the textures take a few extra seconds to load, and you see a very smooth, glass-like world, but that's mostly amusing. XD

One thing of note as far as the graphics is the completely altered character model of Anya. Her hair color, facial shape, body shape, it's all different, which took some getting used to for me, even though you only see her once in the first Gears. And I wish someone could explain to me why they decided to make the change.

---Music & Sound
The sound work is really, really good. Every bone-snapping, blood-splattering, body-mutilating noise is done to perfection. One complaint, though. When you're walking through the remains of a mutilated enemy, it's unnecessarily noisy. Like, I may kick aside a chunk of meat and it'll sound like I jumped directly on top of a pile of raw meat, it's ridiculous and annoys the hell out of me to the point where I will actively try to avoid walking over it.

The voice-acting is superb, despite some dodgy writing for the dialogue in a few places. And with the story being what it is, it's nice to hear a better range of emotions from the characters, not just "GRRR, KILL 'EM ALL! I'M ANGRY! I SHOOT TESTOSTERONE DIRECTLY INTO MY TESTICLES THREE TIMES A DAY; BREAKFAST, LUNCH, AND DINNER, BITCHES!"

I'm also pleased to hear the score play a better range, as well. The score was nice in Gears 1, don't get me wrong. It enhanced the experience, or at the very least did not detract from it. But in Gears 2 I feel it's more memorable, more powerful, and plays a larger part in conveying the emotions played in the voices of the actors. As an aside, if you purchase the Limited Edition, there are parts of the score you can listen to included on the Bonus DVD, it's quite a nice feature.

---Multiplayer & Replayability
Ohhh, the multiplayer for a Gears game. Some people may recall that I dislike the competitive multiplayer for Gears of War, so if you love it and you're gonna get upset 'cause I'm gonna bash it, skip on down, brother or sister. The weapons are ridiculous, I fucking hate the shotgun and often enough refer to it as "Gears of Shotgun" while I'm playing the competitive multiplayer. Also, the way in which the lobby was set up annoyed the piss out of me. I couldn't just invite a friend to play a match with me, we had to try to find each other. "Look for this game type on this map", and gods help you if your rankings were too different, you'd never find each other. Then there was the issue with people coming in and insisting on being on the hosts team because they believe there's some host advantage, which there isn't, so you'd generally not even be able to join your friend's team.

Thankfully, half of that has been changed. The shotgun is still ever-present and I hate it, not to mention the Hammer of Dawn, seriously? But, the lobby has been drastically altered, thankfully. You enter the multiplayer lobby, choose your playlist (which I'll get to in a minute), and then start searching for a team or invite a friend or four then start searching for a team. Either way, you'll find any random players you need to fill your team of five, then start searching for another team to play against. Squee! No waiting and hoping for enough people to join the room so the host can start it!

However, you can not search within a specific gametype to play. Instead, you choose a playlist, which has at least three gametypes to choose from. Two are chosen at random, and then the 10 people present vote on what gametype they'd like to play. If there's a tie vote, one of the remaining gametypes in the list is chosen instead. The only exception to this is Wingman, which as its own playlist. And the same goes for the maps, two are randomly chosen and then voted on, if there's a tie, one of the remaining maps is chosen at random.

To finish up with the competitive multiplayer, there are two new gametypes: Wingman and Submission, a.k.a., Meatflag.

Wingman is basically a clusterfuck. There are five teams of two all gunning for each other, and with the limited spawnpoints on the maps, there is always someone not far from you as soon as you spawn. And hiding will do you know good, you pansies! You don't win merely by surviving, it's the first team to 15 points, and it's one point per kill with a bonus point if your team survives the round. So, you can theoretically survive every round and still lose the match. Personally, I don't like this gametype at all, but it is exactly as it was described and intended to be, so well done, Epic Games.

Submission, on the other hand, I do enjoy. It's your basic capture the flag with a twist: the flag fights back with a shotgun. And talks shit constantly. XD The meatflag's always terribly amusing to listen to. And that's it. Down the meatflag, pick the meatflag up, get him to the capture point and remain in the ring with him a few seconds to capture him.

Moving on to the cooperative multiplayer, which I enjoy far more. The campaign can, of course, be played entirely in co-op and is much, much better when played with a friend, either locally or over Xbox Live.

The new addition to the cooperative multiplayer, however, is the Horde mode. It's you and up to four of your friends against 50 waves of the Locust. Waves 1-10 feature increasingly difficult Locust, and after every tenth level one of three stat multipliers for the Locust, Accuracy, Health, and damage, is increased and the waves restart with the weakest Locust again. It's an extremely addictive mode to play, and a lot of fun to play with your friends.

Whew, this is a hella long review. Okay, so, replayability. I'd say it's extremely high. Horde is just wicked fun, so I imagine people will be playing that again and again. And if Achievements are important to you, you're gonna need 100,000 kills over all the different modes of gameplay, including the campaign, to get Seriously 2.0. So, you'll have to play the game a lot to get that, haha, I got the game the morning it came out and I haven't even reached 5,000 yet.

---Negatives
There's not much negative about this game for me, and certainly nothing I haven't already mentioned, but, I'll reiterate. Though I like it better, the competitive multiplayer is still very frustrating and annoying and there are a few dodgy lines of dialogue, as far as the writing is concerned. It's still a very short game, but it is longer than the first game. Also, it's not really a negative, but certainly not a positive, but where in the hell did the Berserkers go? They're only passingly mentioned with one of the Collectibles and that is all. Strange. Oh, only other thing that's kind of a letdown is the end. It lacks the punch and sense of accomplishment that the fight with General Raam had in the first Gears. It kind o' just... ends.

---Positives
Everything else! I love that there's more of a real story present and the game's just fun as hell to play. And there's a whole slew of additions to the game that make it even better than the first, from weapons to gametypes to enemies. Plus, I'll never get tired of hearing Dom say "Runnin' away won't help! I'll just shoot you in your asses!"

---Final summation
Purchase this game. Unless you don't like games with a lot of blood and violence. If that's the case, you should definitely pass on this one. >_> Or buy it and turn off all the gore and foul language in the options!

Mini-Reviews 16

2008-11-14T15:44:00.003-05:00

Superhero Movie-- Everyone knows that the Movie movies are getting old. They've been getting more and more boring with just a few really funny jokes sprinkled amongst bad jokes and unfunny randomness. This is much the same. A lot of stupid jokes, some hilarious ones, and a basic storyline to tie it all together. Certainly worth viewing once, to at least see the good jokes. And I like this one better than some of the others simply because of the superhero theme. But the formulas not getting any better, really.

If only I were more useful.

2008-11-09T18:57:00.002-05:00

I wish I could take all the sorrow and frustration of the people I love away.

At the very least, help them bear the weight.

Mini-Reviews 15

2008-11-09T18:03:00.002-05:00

So, it's Sunday afternoon. I'm supposed to post these on Fridays. Whoops. >_< I've got excuses, though! Who's interested in knowing what they are? Two things, I've been crazy-sick since Wednesday evening and Gears of War 2 came out on Friday, which I purchased that morning. And then had my share of issues with, but, that'll be for another blog another time.

Desert Heat-- It's a bit of an older film, released in 1999. And this movie is fantastic. It's just so ridiculous. The whole town is full of ludicrous characters, like the English-accentedPat Morita, and even Van Damme himself is utterly ridiculous. It's an entertaining and extremely amusing hour and a half, I assure you.

First and last time

2008-11-04T20:12:00.003-05:00

So, I really don't think I can handle voting and Presidential campaigns.

I tried it this year, albeit I didn't follow closely. And I got very wrapped up in who I want to be President. Or, more appropriately, who I don't want to be President.

But now, if any of my friends disagree with me, anyone whom I care for a great deal, I get a sick, sick feeling in the pit of my stomach. And, I'm not proud to say, I immediately start to think less of them. (-_-) Believe me, I know. I don't want to, but I can't help it, and I feel like a big fat jerk for it. When someone whom I love disagrees with something I'm so fervent about, it makes me go "How are we friends? How long can we possibly remain friends?" Even friends I've had for years and years!

So, I can't do this again, sorry democratic process, but you cause me too much distress. You make me physically ill and you make me question my relationships. I can't deal with it. Peace, I'm out!

It's been a couple weeks

2008-11-01T14:31:00.000-04:00

There's a neeeew vid on YouTube. That is all.

Technically two, it seems

2008-11-01T10:26:00.001-04:00

Hey, there's this great band called Function Creep, ya heard of 'em?

Well, Function Creep fuckin' rocks, so if you haven't heard it yet, go to the page and download the latest single, The Black Mercy. It even features yours truly on a track!

Seriously, go go give it a listen now. And then download all the other singles, they're amazing.

Mini-Reviews 14

2008-10-31T15:11:00.001-04:00

The Incredible Hulk-- Good film, but could have been better, at least for me. Part of my love for the Hulk is the inner turmoil for both Bruce Banner and the Hulk, which is only really hinted at occasionally, or only once in the Hulk's case. I really liked teh way the opening is, though, showing a bit of backstory in a montage during the opening credits. Very cool.

The Strangers-- This film is very good at getting across the feeling of fright and suspense, in my opinion. Very creepy ambiance to the whole film. It's not gorey or anything. It's just... it's intense. It drags in a couple spots, but it's definitely worth seeing, especially since it's Halloween!

Mini-Reviews 13

2008-10-24T20:19:00.002-04:00

Sorry to be posting it so late, but, I wanted to get the Saw V mini-review in since I went to see it today.

Bottoms Up-- Don't beat yourself up if you've never heard of this film. It's not that great. The beginning is, in fact, complete rubbish as far as I'm concerned. Bad cuts, some lackluster acting, strange plot points. There's some amusing dialogue, but, not much. It picks up as it goes along, though, if you're willing to sit through it, and by the end of the film it is mildly amusing, but it still felt like a waste of time once it was finished. There's funny bits, yes, but there's also a lot of unfunny extraneous stuff. Also, Paris Hilton can not act well. I know there are probably fans of her somewhere in the world, but, I've yet to see a decent performance, I'm sorry. Also, her hair looks like a bad wig in this film. Hell, maybe it is a badly done wig, I dunno.

Saw V-- Disappointing. I mean, I'm not terribly surprised. I wasn't expecting much of this movie. Basically, the movie is an hour and forty minutes of exposition and explanation with some gore and traps thrown just so that there's some of that in there. Don't get me wrong, the stuff presented is interesting, and ties the movies altogether even more, but, still not much of a movie there. Feels like a long in-between.

Yummy.

2008-10-22T17:43:00.002-04:00

New song alert! Did a new track for Halloween with Artificial Angel called "Flesh". Right click and save as, y'all, and enjoy it. (^_^) And be sure to check out the music on his MySpace.

Artificial Angel - Flesh (Ft. Sixty X Celph)

If you really don't want to download it, I suppose you can give it a listen on the MySpace player instead.

Mini-Reviews 12

2008-10-18T00:13:00.002-04:00

Whoops, it's technically Saturday now.

The Happening-- I love M. Night Shyamalan's films, the ones I've seen. Well shot, great stories, interesting characters. The problem is that he's always expected to have some great twist. That's always the complaint I hear most, "The ending sucked" or "It was a weak twist". And there's not really a twist at all. The idea, what's behind "the happening", is presented early on. The problem is that while the idea itself is terrifying, it's ridiculous watching people run away from wind in a field of grass. This probably would have worked better as a novel, something not so visual. But, I enjoyed it. Mark Wahlberg's good stuff, though to be honest I wouldn't consider this anywhere near his best work. Anyway, I think I spotted Brian O'Halloran drivin' the red jeep, am I wrong?

Hard Candy-- Great movie, I've really grown to love Ellen Page since watching Juno, she's an awesome actress. It's an interesting little thriller sort o' mystery film about a 14-year-old girl who flips the script on someone she believes to be a pedophile with some interesting twists along the way. Really good.

Iron Man-- ... seriously, what do you want to hear from me? It's a good film, see it! Most of the changes made from the original material are understandable, although there were some that made no sense to me, but, somehow the movie's good enough that I forgave them. If you're like me and were waiting for it to release and be available for rent, well, see it!

Mmmm, Hard Candy

2008-10-15T14:56:00.003-04:00

Yaaay, the DVD mein chickadee sent me has arrived! Now I can watch Hard Candy! And of course I'll let you all know how it is come Friday. (^_^)

Yaay!

2008-10-14T17:28:00.001-04:00

Hey, new vids are cool, right?

Yaay, I'm back on the YouTube scene!

Bad news and good news!

2008-10-03T12:57:00.004-04:00

The bad news is I didn't watch any new movies again this week, so, no mini-reviews again this week, because I suck. More bad news, I still don't have my new mic.

Good news! Spliced together the wires of my old mic, so, there'll be new vids! Some of the stuff to look forward to: Pros and cons of video game consoles, a movie review for Hatchet, a response to Shep's Top Comic Book Movies vid from awhile back.

More good news, sometime over the next week we'll be shooting a new vid for Tebo Productions, finally. And this one may actually get finished since we mainly have to rely on only each other! (^_^) And I don't foresee either myself or Tebo bailing out on a new Tebo Productions vid, haha.

Whee

2008-09-29T16:51:00.001-04:00

I passed my GED exams.

Mini-Reviews 11

2008-09-28T16:34:00.001-04:00

I don't have a good excuse for not posting this until Sunday afternoon. I was out all Friday afternoon and a good part of the night, but, I could have posted it in the morning. Yesterday and today? Just forgot. >_<

The Forbidden Kingdom-- Let's be honest, anytime Jackie Chan breaks out the Drunken Boxing it's awesome. And I've been wanting a Jet Li/Jackie Chan film for as long as I've been watching the two stars. Add to this that I love the legend of the Monkey King and it may be that I had high expectations and hopes for this film. The action sequences are cool. The plot isn't terrific, but, it's serviceable for what it is. The characters are amusing, albeit a little childish. Most of the movie seems to be geared more towards kids, ten- or eleven-year-olds, rather than adults, actually. I'm not sure if that's how it was meant to be seen, but, viewed as such, I think it's pretty good. Fun little kung-fu movie for preteens, though I've never been particularly fond of wire-fu.

August-- I went into this knowing nothing except that it starred Josh Hartnett and was about a man's dot-com spiraling down. I think it's a terribly interesting look at the life of this fictional character at the moment, and it's well-acted with a wonderful cast of people. But... it's kind of boring. And it doesn't really have a resolution it kind o' just ends. Worth seeing once, I suppose, if you can find it cheap.

First Blood-- There's a reason it's a classic, people. Plus, I hate dickhead cops, so, the fact that that's whom Rambo is fuckin' with is great for me. I always thought it was a war movie, though, so it was a surprise when I learned otherwise. And the end is really good, excellent performance from Stallone, I loved it.

D'uh

2008-09-23T17:20:00.002-04:00

So, I bought some new DVD's today. >_> Yeah, I know. I suck at saving money. XD Anyway, I was bombin' around Wal-Mart a bit and decided I'd see what was in the five dollar bin since it's been awhile since I bought a movie. And I found a few. (^_^)

I came across a legitimate copy of Stand By Me, which is nice because I have a burned copy a friend of mine gave me and I really, really wanted the real thing. And now I have it, squee! I also grabbed Uncle Buck and Meet Joe Black because they're great movies. And, finally, I picked up a copy of the Ultimate Edition of First Blood because I've been wanting to see this movie for a long time, even more so after seeing the recent Rambo. And now, I can! There's a nice complete collection I want that... I can't honestly remember who at the moment, but, someone out there has the one I want to get. Was it Shep? Gods, I wish I could remember right now. Anyway, I didn't mind shillin' five bucks to see the first one even though I hope to get that collection.

And that's enough rambling for now, I'm sore from volleyball, and I'm gonna go watch some more movies.

ahem ... >_>

2008-09-19T21:23:00.003-04:00

Yeah, I didn't watch any new movies again this week. I didn't really watch anything, actually. Been playing F.E.A.R. Files, borrowin' it from my mate Tebo. There were two DVD's rented today, though, so I'll have something for next Friday!

Oh, as an aside, I'll know whether I passed the GED exams in 4-6 weeks, so, sometime around the 18th or 25th of October at the latest. Just in case anyone wanted to know.

As another aside, I may do a review on the Kerli album Love Is Dead, which I bought recently. Anyone interested?

Sorry

2008-09-12T20:46:00.002-04:00

Didn't watch any new movies this week. I did watch Predator again, though, hadn't seen that in awhile... so, go watch that!

In case anyone's curious, had my first five hour session of GED tests. Another five hours tomorrow morning. And then I'll either have my GED or proof I'm a failure. Either way, I'll never have to do it again!

Mini-Reviews 10

2008-09-05T21:36:00.000-04:00

Dan In Real Life-- Great movie. Funny, heart-breaking, and very touching. Fairly predictable, yes, but very well done anyway. It's exceptionally realistic, which I think is its greatest strength.

21-- Quick aside... near the end of the movie, doesn't Kevin Spacey look remarkably like Robert Downey, Jr.? Anyway, the beginning and end are pretty good, but the middle lulled for me. I just started to lose interest once they were in Vegas and Ben's character is starting to change. Luckily, the end picked it back up. I pretty much predicted the end of the film, but, I dunno if that was just me or because the film's predictable. It's hard for me to tell by this point. Anyway, to shorten this... eh, I guess it's wll enough, but, it wouldn't top a list of recommendations I'd make. Kind of unimpressive.

Mini-Reviews 09

2008-08-29T16:16:00.001-04:00

Rambo-- Decent movie. Great action film. Light on the plot, but brutal. Very brutal, in fact, it's quite graphic with how the pillaging, rape, and murder taking place in the country. Be aware of that, going in.

Prom Night [1980]-- It's not bad. Slow in the beginning, not to mention that it makes very little sense, but, it does start to pick up. The ending has a decent twist, though. I guess it's supposed to be a slasher, but, there's not really much slashing going on in the film. So, with that in mind, the film's a typical early 80's thriller. With disco! If you dig that kind o' stuff, you've probably already seen it. If you don't, it's really not worth your time to see it now, 28 years later.

Prom Night [2008]-- This really has almost nothing to do with the 1980 film of the same name. Was this supposed to be a remake? There's the basic premise of people being murdered at prom, and that there are three women who are friends, and one woman who is at odds with the three. And that's where the similarities in story pretty much end. It's an okay film, straight-up slasher that tries to be a thriller by showing the violence off-camera, but, there's a cute as hell lead actress and enough plot to at least be legitimately called a film, which screams "slasher flick". I watched the theatrical cut, so, I dunno how gorey the unrated cut is. But this one leaves a lot to the imagination with the majority of the violence done off-camera. A slasher film without much slashing can get pretty boring. Hey, actually, that's one more thing it has in common with the 1980 film!

Holy eff, a new vid.

2008-08-22T18:27:00.003-04:00

For realsy, yo. I wouldn't get too used to the idea of me doing more vids just yet, as I hate the way the mic on my webcam sounds. But I didn't want to wait a long time to do a vid response to Adam.

Mini-Reviews 08

2008-08-22T12:47:00.000-04:00

Just a couple new movies this week.

The Invasion-- I liked the movie, all except for the editting decision where they show the before and after, cutting in between the two. It can be a little confusing, and I just don't think it was a good idea at all. It only happens three or four times, though. Unfortunately, Nicole Kidman kind o' looks like she's had a fair amount of plastic surgery. :( I could easily be wrong, but, it looks it to me. She's definitely had breast augmentation done. It's honestly kind of distracting [in its entirety, not just her boobs =P]. It's an all right movie, if you can deal with those two things, though.

Live Free or Die Hard-- Great action movie, fantastic cast. What more is there to be said?

Uh oh, here he comes...

2008-08-21T23:29:00.002-04:00

So, I can't shake the feeling that most of my friends are avoiding me as of late. I dunno what it is, maybe they've just realized how much I suck. They're always just about to leave, or busy, or simply never return a phone call. *sigh*

I know I'm paranoid. I know I'm insecure. Knowing these things doesn't help shake my suspicions much. I also understand that I've a relatively mild case of arachnophobia... doesn't make me any less scared of spiders.

Ladies! Your boobs and vaginas are fine!

2008-08-17T23:42:00.003-04:00

Ugh, I am so sick of fake boobs, botox, vaginal rejuva-fucking-nation, seriously, what the fuck?!

Ladies and gentlemen, but most importantly ladies... STOP. No more elective plastic surgery. It's sickening. So you're rockin' A-cups, eh? So rock 'em like they're hot! Don't get sacks of silicone stuffed under your flesh. Got some wrinkles around your eyes, on your forehead? Fuckin' live with it, don't inject poison into your face! Think your lips are too thin? You're a fuckin' idiot, stop whining and obsessing over your appearance so much that you feel the need to have someone inject collagen into your lips! UGH!

Mini-Reviews 07

2008-08-15T22:15:00.003-04:00

Ugh, sorry it's late, I suck. And, I have illusions of grandeur and seem to think there's even people waiting to read these for me to apologize to. And I end my sentences with prepositions... go me!

Doomsday-- Not that I'm necessarily complaining, but, why are post-apocalyptic societies all about the funky haircuts, dyed hair, and tattoos? I mean, really? Good movie, though, I enjoyed it very much. Hella gorey, but, I was watching the unrated version. Character development's not present much, and I didn't find myself with any real attachment to the people who die, but, who cares! Rawr rawr, blood and violence! That seems to be what this movie's basically about; action and violence. Enjoy it for what it is.

The Planet-- B-rate sci-fi film from Britain! Sounds Scottish, but, I'm an ignorant American so I could be wrong. Either way, it's not too great. Acting's good enough, for a B-film. The CG and sound effects seem like they belong in an old Dreamcast or Playstation vidgame cutscene. And sometimes worse. Fairly short film, as well, at about an hour and ten minutes. The story's well enough, I suppose, but there's a shortage of explanation and conclusions. Right up to the end, which made no sense.

Harold & Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay-- If you enjoyed Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle, you'll probably enjoy this. If you didn't... you won't. Funny as hell, though it managed to be more vulgar [the unrated cut, anyway]. Just a heads up for anyone who'd care.

Lost Boys: The Tribe-- Did Feldman's voice actually get worse over the years? First and foremost, it's not fair to compare this movie to the first Lost Boys. They're two separate films from two different points in time. But, I'm going to, anyway. (^_^) Several things are straight-up over-the-top about this film. And Angus Sutherland's acting is a little... much. And the decision to use demonic voices for the vampires is wicked annoying. Maybe I'm just remembering the first film incorrectly, but, this one seems a little more about the gore, particularly fake intestines, but, that's not necessarily bad, right? Anyway, it's not an entirely bad film, but, it's not that great, either. Even if you don't compare it to the first film. Haim's cameo's cool, though.

Never Back Down-- Kind of an odd mix of MMA [Mixed Martial Arts] and a teen movie. Kind of has a Karate Kid feel to it, but, I don't think it'll be quite as iconic, haha. It's not bad, I suppose, but it ain't that great, either. Djimon Hounsou is awesome, of course. And Sean Faris does well enough. The fights are really cool, easily the best parts of the film. If fighting isn't your thing, well, this obviously isn't the film for you. The soundtrack fuckin' sucked, though, ugh. Just about every song was awful.

Mini-Reviews 06

2008-08-08T15:39:00.000-04:00

Bone Eater-- Not good. More boring than anything else. Decent enough acting for the most part and the Bone Eater looks cool, but, not scary, and the animations for his movement are laughable. It looks like they animated him to be a puppet or something. Also, I'm not an expert on Native American mythology, but, I don't recall the Bone Eater being so malignant. He just ushered the dead along to the afterlife [I think, I'm a little fuzzy on the details].

Numb-- Lynn Collins is a delightful actress [and hot] and Matthew Perry is at his finest in this film, quite possibly my favorite role of his I've seen. Wonderful film, I love it.

Timber Falls-- Fairly typical and cliché thriller/slasher fare. Creepy locals, false scares, sexy sex scene, misleads, fanatical religious folk... but, as a fan of slasher films, I enjoyed it and recommend it for any other slasher fans. (^_^) Great acting, good story, just don't expect anything innovative. Be prepared to know exactly what's comin', haha.

Monster High-- Cheesy comedy "horror" film about the end of the world being decided by a basketball game. Fairly entertaining.

The Air I Breathe-- Much like Crash, the film's a collection of vignettes that are all interconnected. Instead of having a central theme of racism, the central theme of these stories is about finding happiness in life and the troubles people go through to find it. Star-studded cast, I'd say it's definitely worth seeing, if only to see the character Brendan Fraser plays. I was skeptical at first, because I just don't see him in darker, tough guy roles, but, he does a great job.

The Messengers-- Fine enough, I suppose, though there's plenty I didn't like about it. At least one of the two twins who played little Ben was a phenomanal actor and there were some genuinely creepy parts. But overall, there's just too much I disliked and too much I questioned. The seemingly random inclusion of crows annoyed me, I just don't find blackbirds inherently terrifying. And some of the scenes were cut far longer than I feel they needed to be. I can only assume they were supposed to be dragging out the suspense, but, it just irritated me. My dislike of the film is nigh solely based on my personal preference, though, it's a well-made film otherwise.

Mini-Reviews 05

2008-08-01T16:59:00.002-04:00

I'm runnin' a little late with this one...

Hack!-- Decent acting, nice gore, interesting story-line though mildly predictable with a twist or two, and funny at certain points. Audio quality gets a little wonky sometimes, though, and everything'll sound tinny for no discernible reason. I dunno if it's just the copy of the DVD I watched or what. I found it entertaining, though. It's worth a rent, I'd say.

Day Zero-- Excellent film. I enjoy the story arcs and seeing how the news that they've been drafted to war just destroys a couple of the characters. Elijah Wood's character in particular, to me, is the most interesting.

Aliens Vs. Predator: Requiem-- It's an okay film, I guess. Not terribly good, though. It could have definitely used some better lighting. I get it, dark and gritty, but, that was just ridiculous, you can barely see a lot of the time. It feels extremely rushed for a lot of it, as well. Up until, like, the last 20 minutes. The predalien's still wicked cool.

Undead or Alive-- A self-proclaimed "zombedy". It's pretty funny. Morbid ending to both story-lines. Interesting seeing Chris Kattan in a film again, anyhow. And Navi Rawat is hot. (^_^) Special effects kind o' sucked, though, particularly at the end. The whip sound effect every time it cut back and forth from the town was unnecessary, too. Hell, the whole side-story with the Padre seemed entirely useless to the rest of the film. Just made it longer. But don't miss the bloopers during the credits!

P2-- Very good movie. Typical thriller fare, but, what's wrong with that? And, it's well executed. Except the taser bit. Shocking you in the side isn't likely to knock you out, I don't think. Wes Bentley was awesome, as always.

First Sunday-- S'all right. Not terribly funny, but, has its moments. Kind of an uninspired script, as well. But, it's the least irritating performance I've seen of Katt Williams, so, that's a plus. It's not bad.

Sex and Breakfast-- Another all right movie. It's interesting seeing the problems the two couples are having and how the "therapy" affects them differently in the end. Anyone else ever look at Macaulay Culkin and think he's older than 13 or 14? He always looks like a kid pretending to be an adult to me.

Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer-- I try to watch a comic book movie without thinking about the things that will be changed. Some things just don't work as well in film as they do in the comics. I understand that. But some things are changed so arbitrarily in both the first film and this sequel that it just annoys the shit out of me, and I'm not even a huge fan of the Silver Surfer and even less of the Fantastic Four. It's an all right superhero movie, though, if you're not familiar with the comics at all. Anticlimactic end, though.

Sleepwalking-- Very good film. AnnaSophia Robb is a delightful young actress, Dennis Hopper is always cool and always plays a good bad guy, Nick Stahl does a terrific job, and the rest of the cast ain't exactly slouches. Very tragic story, but it has its lighthearted, feel-good moments.

Die Hard 2-- Yeah, I know, I'm nearly 20 years late to the party. I liked the first one better, I think Bruce Willis' performance was stronger in the first one. Beyond that, some cool explosions, some twists here and there in an interesting plot that's quite similar to the first one in structure. The movie came out in 1990 [I think], you should know by now what it's like, haha.

... from the mouths of babes...

*knock knock*

When Robots Attack

Hoooly shit

Two in one night, oh joy!

An opinion about an argument.

Inebriation and Paranoia

Death of An Angel.

Inebriation and Trustworthiness

Y'know why I say I'm not a nice person?

Breaking News: People are still shit.

Imagine that, this thing's still around.

E3 2009: Microsoft... "All in one box"

Mini-Reviews 37

Just a little late side note...

Not as entertaining a read this time, sorry

A Day For Idiots

Not teenage, not mutant, but definitely a ninja turtle.

Mini-Reviews 36

Mini-Reviews 35

Doctor Horrible

In case anyone was curious...

This past weekend

Mini-Reviews 34

Tiny update

Instead of a mini-review.

Mini-Reviews 33

Mini-Reviews 32

I found this thing called YouTube

Put it in your mouth

Explanation for the missing mini-review.

Mini-Reviews 31

3 Steps

A little bit of bitching

Enneagram

6 - the Questioner

"I am affectionate and skeptical"

M.I.A. but not K.I.A.

Mini-Reviews 30

Because of the two bowls of Lucky Charms?

I'm Just A Statistic!

Mini-Reviews 29

I hate titles, I'm bad at them

Mini-Reviews 28

Mini-Reviews 27

Mini-Reviews 26

The Batpod's stupid

Physical self-examination is much more fun

Mini-Reviews 25

Who dat? Who dere?

Mini-Reviews 24

How To Look Less Like A Dork 101

Look at the elephant, mommy!

Hatchet Review on YouTube

To make it official

Mini-Reviews 23

Woot whoop, bitches!

If it's not one fucking thing, it's a-gods-damned-nother

Mini-Reviews 22

Pissed off kids are funny

Mini-Reviews 21

Holy Hell, I did something

Bathroom Exploits

I Suck (Not A Gay Topic)

Mini-Reviews 20

Mirror's Edge

I need to stop being gone all day.

Mini-Reviews 19

Y'know what I miss?

Mini-Reviews 18

Mini-Reviews 17

Whew

Mini-Reviews 17

A little more about Gears of War 2

Gears of War 2 Review (Because I was told to do it)

Mini-Reviews 16

If only I were more useful.

Mini-Reviews 15

First and last time

It's been a couple weeks

knock knock

ahem ... >_>