Watching Nothing

Top Ten (Ver. 2.0)

2010-06-18T23:53:00.000-07:00

Now that I thought about it for a while. I'm doing the real top ten games list. Its going to be amazin. Coming soon.

Exercise?

2010-01-13T21:20:00.000-08:00

I don't really have any new year's resolutions this year, I just have long term goals that haven't been met yet. I do think I have a semi-resolution though. I want to run a little more and feel a little more healthy. I think I should set a year long goal I can get to, but I don't know what that goal should be. My father says I should run 12 miles a week so it's easy to get through in three or four days. Maybe it'll get to that, but I need reliable transportation before I can get to the gym four times a week. I think for the time being I'm going to record how far I run. Maybe I'll check in around the end of February and see what I can get through this year. I'll just edit this post as not to clutter up the place. I'm just going to estimate for the first two weeks, as other than yesterday's 5 miles I haven't been keeping track.

Ok, here goes...

1/1-1/11 -10 mi.
1/12 - 4.9 mi.
1/18 - 1.6 mi.
1/21 - 2.45 mi.
1/22 - 2.5 mi.
1/23 - 2.32 mi.
1/29 - 3.15 mi.
1/30 - 4.1 mi.
(2/2 - cycled and swam but didn't run)
2/5 - 2.31 mi.
2/7 - 5.03 mi.
2/10 - 2.56 mi.
2/11 - 2.42 mi.
2/12 - 2.32 mi.
2/18 - 2.25 mi.
2/19 - 2.32 mi.
2/20 - 6.15 mi.

2010-01-02T00:56:00.000-08:00

Back for more

2010-01-02T00:50:00.001-08:00

Now that schools over I can try to post more (insane) dreams of mine. Since the last time I've had a fair share of crazy dreams but have completely forgot about them. I looked back at what I had dreamed about and still can clearly remember those dreams that I did write down, so IMO dream logs really do work. :D

So anyway, lets begin.

Jan 1st.

AH new year.

I remember having a remote control car that I had driven to a big parking garage and I met a couple of friends there. We found a parking spot to park all our RC cars. (The parking spot was a regular sized one too, so it seemed a bit ridiculous). Anyway, we were afraid that others were going to not see our RC cars and smash into them so I decided to try and hide them inbetween a concrete barrier and a fence in the garage. That's all I remember.

The One I've been waiting for...

2009-09-28T00:10:00.000-07:00

A few nights ago, I started having this dream and halfway through it I felt like I could control everything in my dream, I believe that is called Lucid Dreams. This is only the second time in my life that it's happened.

I remember being on a suspended mine cart track running through a field with some apartments about 50 feet from the track. The track itself was maybe about 30 feet off the ground. For some reason I needed to get off the track. (I think the track was ending.) At that moment I clearly remember feeling this control of myself and said screw it i'll fly outta here! Well I started floating and I slowly fell to the ground. But I wanted to try again and I was able to lift myself up a few feet and float around.

The next part was I remember wanting to run at super speeds and sure enough I accelerated and the world around me became blurry and I was leaving everything behind. It was amazing.

The next dream was that there was an olde time fair in scotts valley with a train that run through where Mt. Hermon would be. That's all I remember.

SEPT. 24th, 2009

#5

2009-08-24T23:06:00.000-07:00

...A bunch of us walking into an underground ghost town, bright lights everywhere much like an archaeological dig I suppose. The best thing we did was play catch, all of us, while standing on rubble and crumbling houses...

#4 - Planetary

2009-08-23T11:25:00.000-07:00

A big group of us was at Disneyland for a new rollercoaster that was built around and into a big hill. It had a Buzz Lightyear, space kind of theme to it. It seemed like a typical medium-thrill roller coaster, going in and out of the mountain and what not, up until we get to the top. The end of the ride had a 90 degree drop through the center of the mountain, it was maybe 20-30 stories deep.

I then remember alex and joel opening a food stand at some Ivy league school, and for some reason we were talking about Earthbound. pretty cool. Then I woke up.

2 and 3 - Float On

2009-08-21T21:42:00.000-07:00

I believe it was Wednesday when I had a dream that involved a more realistic Mario Kart, I mean with real people and real cars. I remember seeing Ben and Alex and myself in a garage with a lot of miniature size cars, real cars. I'd say about the size of those Smart Cars. Anyway the steering of these cars was absolutely terrible. I saw a screen of the actual race and it must have been in 16-bit. haha

Thurs.
I was inner tubing in a man made canal, almost like a bigger waterslide with Josh and these innertubes were ball shaped with a huge weight to stabilize it. The next moment I remember leaving the ground and starting to float, I kept going higher and higher. ( I LOVE flying dreams, this one almost felt lucid, I thought I could almost control myself and telling myself to go higher and higher).

Its hard to be real detailed in describing my dreams. Harder than I thought, but hey, its fun.

Dream Log - 1.5

2009-08-18T23:21:00.001-07:00

Had another ridiculous dream but I forgot everything. Oh well, more soon.

Dream Log - 1

2009-08-15T23:26:00.001-07:00

It was last year during the Catering class that I saw a classmate open up a big notebook filled with random writing. I asked him what it was and he said he writes down his dreams everytime he remembers them. I thought about it for a while and I feel now is a good time to write down some of my own because they often time raise the WTF flag.

August 13th - I remember playing guitar for The Cult except Bono was the lead vocals. LOL. I remember playing in front of a whole bunch of people but there was a table with a few asian ladies that couldn't get enough of my guitar playing. I remember playing She Sells Sanctuary (which in turn caused me to listen to that song multiple times that day.) We were rocking out pretty good, although at the end of the song, I played the acoustic outro to Time in Malta's "The Wayfarer" (one of my favorite songs of all time) in front of these ladies, thats all I remember.

Good times :D

OMG

2009-06-21T23:52:00.000-07:00

It has been wayyyyy too long since i've been here, perhaps this summer I can contribute some random idiocy and rants and what not, ya? I'll think of something

Still makes me giggle

2009-06-07T22:08:00.001-07:00

E3 2009

2009-06-04T00:18:00.000-07:00

E3 is back, very nearly. In terms of press conferences, this is the best E3 in quite a while. Sure, there was awkwardness in the pacing and talky bits, but the games were huge, one after another. Halo, Crackdown and Splinter Cell could have been an entire event other years, but this year they were slotted in with a huge roster of cool looking games. Nintendo really reversed their position from last year, giving us Mario, Mario, Mario, Mario and Metroid. There were so many leaks before Sony's conference this year that it was the only one near what I expected, and they still announced an exclusive Rockstar game and a new numbered Final Fantasy. I'm not going to do a full write up, but I did want to share with you the games I most want to play coming out of E3.

I just beat the most recent Metroid and wasn't expecting to get exited about a new one for a while, but that was pretty damn exiting seeing the Team Ninja cinematic connected to this one.

Trico is officially known now as The Last Guardian. This may have been mostly leaked a few weeks ago, but that doesn't make me want it any less. If you've ever played Ico or Shadow of the Colossus you know that this team is good, and now they're doing it in shiny new HD. Gah.

Of course there are Final Fantasies and Haloes that I will enjoy the hell out of when the time comes, but they didn't do that much for me this week.

J.J. Abrams, you are my hero

2009-06-01T02:19:00.000-07:00

Co-creator of Alias, Lost and Fringe. Director of MI3, Cloverfield and Star Trek, and now keyboardist for Lonely Island

MTV Shows

Zombies!

2009-05-14T18:39:00.000-07:00

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

More Zombies

Musical Monkey

2009-05-11T17:13:00.000-07:00

Put your mp3 on random and type the song that comes up. Answer the q's.
(I used my daily twitter playlist and random.org's sequence generator)

Song 1: Walking in the Dark - Goldfinger

How did you discover this song? On my ipod, when I put it there.
Is this a good dancing song? If by dancing you mean skanking, then hells yeah
Have you seen this band live? No, sadface.

Song 2: Chin Up - Catch 22

The hottest member of this band is? By default, the sax player. I don't even remember what he looks like.
Does this band have piano? No. Not even keyboards.
Is this your favorite band? Very possibly. Definitely top 3.

Song 3: Neon Rainbow - The Box Tops

anyone in this band have a beard? By now, probably
Do you like this song? Yeah, makes me think of 1960's Vegas
Are there any girls in this band? For the sake of their hair, I hope not.

Song 4: Good Vibrations - The Beach Boys

Has this band ever toured with fall out boy? ... HAHAHAHAHA
Does your best friend like this song? I just about guarantee it.
One memory with this song: The Drifters or Jan and Dean or somebody playin it at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk one Friday.

Song 5: My Eyes - Felicia Day & Neil Patrick Harris

Does this song make you cry? No, makes me sing
Do you have the cd this song is on? I don't know if they actually printed CDs of this album.
One memory with this song: Driving down Highway 9 during Indian Summer and singing Wayne's World tyle.

Song 6: Strawberry - Everclear

Does this song remind you of a boy? Art Alexakis
Have you ever heard this song live? No
What is the first line of this song? Never been here, never coming back, never want to think about the things that happened today.

Song 7: Holland, 1945 - Neutral Milk Hotel

"Now she's a little boy in Spain
Playing pianos filled with flames
On empty rings around the sun
All sing to say my dream has come"

Song 8: Heart it Races - Dr. Dog

Did you pirate this song? Technically, I haven't even downloaded it.
Who told you about this band? Brian Ibbot via Coverville.com
Is this a christian band? They could be, but I doubt it.

Song 9: Punk Rock Rulebook - 88 Fingers Louie

Does this band use synth? Not at all
What is you favorite line from this song? The punk band wagon's taken you where you don't wanna go
Does your mom like this band? :)

Song 10: Death Or Glory - The Clash

Have you ever written the lyrics to this anywhere? I've used the title before
Are all of the original members of this band still in it? ...the band is not playing anymore
Is this your favorite song? Not nearly. It's a great song though.

Song 11: Two Hearts in 3/4 Time - The Avalanches

What is your favorite song from this band? this song is second to Frontier Psychiatrist
Does this song swear? I don't think so. It could be in a background layer.
Have you heard this on the radio? only the internet radio

Song 12: Papa was a Rodeo - The Magnetic Fields

What is your favorite line? I see that kiss-me pucker forming, but maybe you should plug it with a beer
Does this song sing about stars? It sings (sic) about their kids, i imagine
Who is the singer? Stephin Merritt. him doing the Coraline play makes me want to visit London

Song 13: Tighten Up - Archie Bell and the Drells

Is there a number in this song? I think not
Is this song special to you for any reason? you look nice today
Is this song good for moshing? No, you would really have to try hard with this one.

Song 14: Aruarian Dance - Nujabes

How long have you liked this band? Maybe a month
Is this song about a girl? Instrumental. If it's not, it should be.
Have you told someone about this band? Don't think so.

Song 15: Death to Los Campesinos! - Los Campesinos!

Do you listen to this for a certain mood? Whenever I want to smile.
Does this remind you of any one? hmm... I've told people about this band, but got no response, so no. Kittens and Unicorns.
What is the last line of this song?
If you catch me with my hands in the till I promise, sugar, I wasn't trying to steal
I'm just swimming in copper to smell and pretend like a robot!

Music!

2009-05-03T21:56:00.000-07:00

I guess I have Twitter to thank for this in a weird way. Around the beginning of the year, I tried to write reviews for whatever music I was getting into at the time. I'd say I enjoyed it, even if it was a big time commitment. Well, with me being so busy being unemployed and all there was sure to be a conflict of interest with, say, looking for a job or sleeping all day. Also, the setup I have is rather uncomfortable for extended sessions of typing, so it's rather easier to not do it most of the time.

Sometime in January I noticed another person on twitter putting his playlist up on twitter. It was a track a day, often sprawling jazzy electronica which appeared to be his genre of choice. It was a cool idea, and I thought I could put my own spin on it. I could use my twitter account to let people hear some of my favorites, but at the same time use it to explore new stuff and introduce it to my friends, blah blah blah. It's been a bit more cathartic than I expected. It's strange- I dont have any way of knowing who listens to my playlist (if anyone at all) but I've become more introspective and self aware of my listening patterns.

Also, it forces me to listen to music more. For a long while I was one of the people you might hear disparaging new music. You could probably blame it on the re-branding of punk rock. Why, I thought, should I listen to (to pick a band at random) New Found Glory when there are decades of excellent music I haven't explored? I should be listening to The Dead Kennedys or Agnostic Front. I could be exploring the classics from The Clash, Cream, Nine Inch Nails, The Who. For that matter I could go back to the days before rock, discover Duke Ellington and Ella Fitzgerald.

It was last year that I realized my taste in music had expanded to the point that I could find music out there that I liked, and happened to come from the last decade. Ten years ago, I never would have listened to Neutral Milk Hotel. Even The Decemberists were well beyond my tolerance so long ago.

I've gotten a little distracted. The point of this post is, the playlist experiment is working. Search for #ctfs on twitter and you'll find brand new music alongside groups like Archie Bell and the Drells and John Coltrane. I think, now that the honeymoon with this idea is over, I may post here on occasion when I feel I have more than a sentence or two to spout off on a particular song.

Death or Glory

2009-02-04T17:01:00.000-08:00

This is still just a personal blog, right? I know no one's reading this, anyway. Well, how's this: Disclaimer: This probably isn't funny or interesting to anyone that doesn't know me personally, and maybe not even then. Consider yourself warned.

Ok, so last night I fucking exploded. Around 9:30 I found my back hurting, so I took some tylenol (generic, whatever), a shower, and a walk. This has been occurring for the last six months, and I've more or less figured out how to combat it. The problem is, It was getting worse, fast. By the time I was out of the shower, I didn't much feel like standing. I walked about a quarter-mile into town before I decided walking wasn't working, and that I'd be better off just curling up in the fetal position on the pavement and throwing up. I managed not to do that, managed to drag myself back home. By now I decided that, though my back certainly hurt it was not the origin of the problem. My ribs were sore as hell, as though I broke a couple on either side. I didn't want to breath. It seemed like some internal organ was ripping and tearing every time I moved, but staying still was worse. Lying on my back hurt, on my stomach even more so. Standing was out of my range of concentration, I ended up changing position every 30 seconds or so looking for something that didn't feel like I was making it, aggravated I guess.

By midnight I knew sleep wasn't going to come, no matter how tired I was. My mother decided what was wrong with me was my gallbladder. From a googled website, drhoffman.com (my bold):

In gallbladder disease, bile in the gallbladder becomes concentrated and thickens. Gallstones are born out of this sludge from cholesterol and bile salts. The end result of the disease process is inflammation (cholecystitis) or stones (cholelithiasis). A gallbladder attack occurs when the gallstone blocks the flow of bile from the gallbladder and is manifested as a pain in the right side (sometimes perceived in the right shoulder because of referred pain) as severe as the excruciating pain of a heart attack.

Fucking hell. Attacks last twelve to eighteen hours. I've never wanted to kill myself because of a physical pain before. By about 1:30 I had lost the energy to move around, and was lying wide awake on my bed. A couple times I passed out, only to be awakened shortly afterward by my own breathing, I assume. By about 4 I could tell the pain was receding. I could sit up without much consequence, though breathing, just existing, was still a pain. By seven I could walk to the sink to get some water without wanting to vomit. I was tired enough by 8:30 to fall asleep through the pain.

I awoke about 4 hours later feeling rested and much better. I was still sore as hell and unwilling to move, but sore is easy. Sore, in fact, feels good. Now I have to figure out how to deal with it recurring. Apparently it's mostly diet, and not a terribly hard one for me, all things considered. I should eat a few types of fruits, and stay away from eggs, pork, onions, poultry, milk and nuts. Onions and nuts (almonds) will be the hardest thing for me to quit, though thankfully there seem to be mixed reports as to benefits vs detriments regarding onions. Exercise is already part of my schedule these days. The first thing I'm supposed to do, though, is fast. Fast for three days, only drinking water. God, do I not want to do that. But I've been hungry before. Also I guess I need to avoid anything that looks like the superbowl for the next few months.

Of course, the key is moderation. I know enough not to worry about what I eat, as long It's not much. The only thing that seems to be stressed is eggs almost certainly bring pain. Well, wish me luck. I'll tell you how it goes.

Songs to play at open mic night

2009-01-19T23:01:00.000-08:00

Chimbley Sweep
http://tinysong.com/2JSs
A more lively and interesting song than most that would be played there.

Be Quiet and Drive (Far Away) (Acoustic)
http://tinysong.com/2wE2
An awesome song, it just depends on the crowd weather to play it or not.

Signe
http://tinysong.com/ruk
Good song, boring choice. See also Hey Hey http://tinysong.com/2JSC

Handbook for the Sellout
http://tinysong.com/1MBv
I think you could totally translate the horns into a second guitar.

For silliness, see also Oh Canada
http://tinysong.com/a4n

They've got trees and mooses and sled dogs, lots of lumber and lumberjacks, and logs! We all think that it's kind of a drag that you have to go there to get milk in a bag.

Death from Below
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkoV0QsWyRY
It's hard to find anything by these guys. This is one of my favorite songs of theirs, and would be only moderately challenging to convert and play.

Since I've been somewhat fixated on the Decemberists lately, a few other songs of theirs that would work well:

Los Angeles I'm Yours http://tinysong.com/1YBK
Shanty for Arethusa http://tinysong.com/1qus -it would be shorter and need an accordion, but it would work
Billy Liar http://tinysong.com/29Ky
Red Right Ankle http://tinysong.com/2zyZ -way too obvious for a coffee shop
Summersong http://tinysong.com/1qoq -not necessary, but accordion would be good on this one too
Yankee Bayonet (I Will Be Home Then) http://tinysong.com/2vsV -also pretty obvious
Sons & Daughters http://tinysong.com/2JTM -only if you've got a chorus with you

A Dream parts one and two

2009-01-09T11:16:00.000-08:00

There was a long, slowly curving road.

It was mostly empty, or at least the other cars didn't matter so much. Desert was mostly what you could see out the windows, though you could see a large body of water or a small city every now and then. Though the road continues on, our path stops in a large city. It is the largest city that's been seen so far, though there are cities as large or larger on this road. The dust that coats the first few blocks has taken the path we have to get here, dry desert city. The opposite half of the city meets the shore from where the salty sea breeze travels, rusty damp old city.

The story is longer than I know, but it used to be that two small towns sat here. The desert crossroad did well to trade with the small marine town and as they both grew, a large commercial district was put up between the two, joining them permanently. Nowadays you can't tell where one used to start or stop, it's so intertwined.

As you near the sea, towards the end of the city center, there is an office building. Except, it's really a casino. It doesn't look like a casino though, it looks like a slightly gilded office building. Sure, there are a few lights and ornaments inside, but if you didn't know it was there the most you might hear is a remark about the need for an office building to be embellished with gold.

A car was parked. Whether it was parked in the building's underground lot, or a nearby side street doesn't really matter. What matters is that about the same time, security cameras picked up some people entering a restricted stairwell of the casino/office building. The security cameras didn't recognize the people entering, but of course, they were just cameras. They don't recognize anything (excepting, of course, the cameras with heat or movement sensors attached. But those aren't cameras, are they? Just attached dongles that affect cameras). The people that watch these security cameras didn't recognize the people in the stairwell, either, and alerted their bosses.

The intruders navigated to a room on the thirty-first floor. It was a large open room, perhaps it took up a quarter of the entire floor. And the one above it.

...To Be Continued

So where was I? Oh, yeah. Thirty-first floor. In fact it probably wasn't exactly the thirty-first, just more than halfway up a fairly tall building. Our intruders have made it that far. That's where they discover that security is looking for them. Stealth is implemented; also a distraction. A man breaks off from the rest of the group. A chase begins.

The man, in fact, was probably just a boy. He's tall and lanky, and surely not a hair over eighteen. You'd think this kid would have trouble dealing with so much limb when he's got so little body, but he's fast. As he scurries off down a distant corridor, he does some sort of close quarters slash acrobatic trickery to cause a backup for the chasers.

The remaining team can now act. They make their way to the middle of the back wall, where a lift of sorts lies. It is small and rather expensive looking, as if to signal to regular folk, "just use the stairs." About three people can fit comfortably side-to-side in it, and that's how many took it up, cramming uncomfortably down to keep their whole bodies covered from any further attack. The two remaining members of the group ran back across the room to take cover and wait for the rest.

The lift reaches it's destination two floors, or perhaps twenty, above the lobby. The three jump out and flash along a slightly open room to a small corner office. Someone is leaning against the desk, waiting for them. Is he evil? Probably, though it doesn't really matter. There is a conversation, the kind you hear in movies. no one's moving. And then there was a call.

The team gets a call from the boy. It seems he did what they were here for, that this group upstairs was the real distraction. They run off back to the lift, which is already on it's way down. They jump down one by one, trying to fit inside, while not landing on each other in the process. Everyone meets back at the lobby, where the two left behind are having a firefight keeping security from retaking the room. And then they escape?

...To Be Continued ...again

Oh My...

2008-07-28T13:39:00.001-07:00

Rock Band 2 might have to take the back seat to this.
I've heard rumors of an NA October release

E3-2

2008-07-24T01:00:00.000-07:00

Okay, so as Brendan Fraser would say, here we go again. One thing before I start though, I could bring up R2, GoW2, GoW3, Fable 2, and Fallout 3 here, but I'm not gonna do that. I'm not gonna bring up R2, GoW2, GoW3, Fable 2, and Fallout 3 because if you followed E3 at all, those were probably the biggest games this year so you already know about 'em. I'm gonna go at least a notch or two down and find some of the smaller games I want to play, at least until I get to LBP.

Madworld

The first public showing of Madworld was at GDC this year, and there wasn't any new info at E3 from what I can tell, but there was a new video. The premise sounds pretty cheesy; a group called The Organization takes over a city and holds a life or death contest in the streets. The gameplay looks pretty fun, assuming the wii gestures aren't overused.

Crysis Warhead

At the other end of the visual spectrum is Crysis Warhead. Kind of a standalone expansion pack, it looks like it allows for the developers to put in what didn't make the cut for the original Crysis. In any case, they're apparently advertising it as "Crysis: The Lost Levels" and that sounds pretty good to me.

Little Big Planet

Alright, so Little Big Planet may not be a smaller game out there on the show floor, but I want to give Little Big Planet this years spore award for still not being out and looking awesome last year. Enemies have been shown this year, as well as how to make them. Also there was music management, which they thankfully are going to include. I don't have much to say about this game really, other than I still want to play it.

E3 2008

2008-07-21T14:42:00.000-07:00

As a mere hobbyist blogger, and without any amount of actual money to go, I declined the ESA's generous (non-existant) offer to go down to L.A. this Year and traverse E3. Of course with such devices known to me and select few others (the internet) I was able to virtually roam the West hall without the annoyances of consuming a coach plane ticket. In any case, here are a few games that caught my eye this year.

Prince of Persia
This is the best looking game of E3 to me. Of course there are graphically superior games in a technical sense (if you haven't done so yet, check out Far Cry 2), but nothing quite caught my eye like Prince of Persia. It's hued like a Final Fantasy game, but cel-shaded and uber-detailed.

If it actually turns out to be Okami meets Ico, well, that would be a hell of a game.

Fat Princess

We may have seen PoP in the months preceding July, but Fat Princess is, I think, newly announced out of L.A. It's a multiplayer game based aroud capturing the other side's princess while defending your own, a.k.a. capture the flag. The differentiating factor here is that in most ctf games you can't fatten up your flag(and slow down those trying to take it) by feeding it sweets found around the map. Another difference between Fat Princess and most capture the flag games is that it's not a first-person shooter. The game uses an isometric view, and the character classes and gameplay seem to complement it well. Swordsmen are basic soldiers, who can pick up various weapons and are your frontline attacker and defenders. Priest heal allies and can buff swordsmen a la TF2, while mages use magic offensively against multiple enemies. The builder harvests resources around the map to create more buildings and defensive structures. In fact, he has a tech tree to do this, eventually leading to offensive weapons like catapults. All that in a 16 on 16 game sounds like hysteria.

I Am Alive

I Am Alive is set in Chicago after some as yet unknown disaster. Not much is known at all about this title, other than I want to play it. The only downside to this game so far is that the main character kinda looks like create-a-wrestler guy.

Hopefully there'll be more later this week.

Sounds Like...

2008-07-09T14:30:00.000-07:00

I've been on a strange new music kick in the last month or so. Just today I discovered a site called the sixty one dot com which has a bunch of new stuff, though I'm not really sure yet how the site works. It has random rpg elements where you can level yourself up and bands can do the same. There's also achievements? It does allow you to stream and buy drm-free music from the artists, of which most seem to be independent. A band I heard about a few days ago through twitter is Apes and Androids. They are a very strange band and kinda hard to classify. Think The Avalanches, but with a more psychadelic atmosphere and tight vocals. Not quite an everyday listen, but very good nevertheless.

The Sixtyone has been playing music for me for the last hour and it's actually amazing that new artists are still this active and good without much motivation. I just heard something that could be a folk song from a european countryside and before that a two minute techno song. Two minutes! It's like they're not on drugs or something. And before that something that makes me think of an Austrian circus. All this played as well as the Violent Femmes cover of Gnarls Barkley's "Crazy." And now something pure pop rock. I think this is officially my favorite new website. Yeah, it's probably two years old by now, but still.

A Really Fast Nightlife

2008-07-02T11:31:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I'm likely behind the times on this but I've just discovered a band called Vampire Weekend. They are classified as "indie rock" and I guess that's right. I would classify them as "taking a walk in the park on a summer day" music. Super simple and super hippie "belongs in a Wes Anderson movie" stuff but I'm quite enamored with it. I may just find a park later today to walk around in.

In news-type stuff, it looks like there's going to be a ballot initiative this November to put some money into a California high speed railway. So far it looks like it's not finalized, but the plan is to start with the "spine" track running from San Francisco to Los Angeles. It may at this point include another one or two stops (possibly San Jose) before phase two expands to San Diego and Sacramento. In the end there will be 800 miles of track laid down. The proposed train system will run at 220 miles per hour, and the high speed rail's website estimates a two hour and twenty-one minute trip from San Jose to LA. If we vote for it, nearly ten billion in taxes will go towards the rail, with thirty billion coming from other sources. Once built it will sustain itself and generate up to one billion dollars a year. By 2030 there will be an annual capacity of 117 million people.

Here's to hoping the measure passes this November.

O_o

2008-07-01T16:56:00.000-07:00

WHOA i like to write. top 3 coming soon

Hello? ...anyone?

2008-06-30T03:09:00.000-07:00

I am going to start writing again. My goal is going to be twice a week. For now all I have to say is even if you're only play the first ten songs in rockband, it's still amazing. Also, Veronica Belmont may be a superstar one day if she wants to. That's all for now, I should've nodded off hours ago.

Blargh

2008-03-17T07:41:00.000-07:00

I fail at remembering the games I grew up on. There'll be a new post coming soon, but until then, see the latest media attack on videogame violence.

Counterfitt's pick #7 - GTA San Andreas

2008-01-16T09:50:00.000-08:00

Since you've already talked about this game I guess I don't have anything else to say... oh wait, this game is massive. Finding something else to say shouldn't be very hard.

Lets start with the soundtrack. The GTA3 series has some of the best music (not composed for that game) around, with San Andreas being a particularly high point. There are ten different music stations with music ranging from The Ohio Players to Public Enemy to Soundgarden to some techno or reggae band you'd likely know if you were into those genres. Each station is based on one you might've heard during the mid-to-early nineties so it's almost certain to be a trip down memory lane for anyone who plays. And of course, the djs only help to fill such a memory. The greatest of these for me was the host of Radio X, the alternative rock station. While completely satirizing the people who appear on such a station, she managed to say almost exactly the lines used by the host of local alternative station The X 103.9 while cutting to, in some cases, the same music (Mother by Danzig as an example).

One of the cool features added to San Andreas is the gang wars minigame. The object is to claim turf by entering a enemy controlled area and taking out a few waves of bad guys. The larger the area of your gang's influence, the bigger the monetary payoff you receive. Every so often your territory will be attacked and you have to chase off the enemy gangs to continue earning revenue.

You've talked about the open world already, Dave, but of course that's the biggest draw to this game. Anything from jumping out of airplanes to gambling to pissing off the cops and outrunning them and the freedom to explore the entire tri-city area is what makes this games so great.

Counterfitt's pick #8 - SimCity 2000

2008-01-15T07:44:00.000-08:00

Ok, so maybe sc2k isn't the best version of SimCity. Perhaps the third and fourth iterations have improved over this one in different ways, but guess what- I barely played those where as I spent the entire nineties playing 2000. Through the nineties, "sandbox gameplay" was associated with SimCity 2000 the way it's been associated with the Grand Theft Auto series and its clones in recent times.

The game is a city building simulator, the only one really. The object of the game, if you can call it that, is to attract people to your city while keeping citizens happy and the budget balanced. The fact of the matter is that the object of the game is to play around and do whatever you want. It's actually quite revolutionary for a videogame- at least it was when the first one came out. Think about it, how many non-Will Wright created games can you think of that don't have any goals. It becomes like a bunch of army men or a doll house. There's a general theme and from there you make your own fun.

Another great thing about 2000 is its one of (if not the) first games to come out with a development kit of sorts. The SimCity Urban Renewal Kit allowed you to create your own buildings and alter the way your cities looked as a result. It was rudimentary and hard to edit, but it still opened my mind to the possibilities of game design and creation.

SimCity 2000 is possibly the most influential game of my childhood.

Counterfitt's pick #9 - Final Fantasy Tactics

2008-01-13T02:59:00.000-08:00

With a top ten list like this it's hard to say something new about any game, and I really have to acknowledge it with this game. Final Fantasy Tactics is a tactical rpg as good as they get. Until recently this was a very hard game to get a hold of, commonly selling for upwards of $100 on ebay. Just recently a port has been delivered to fans via psp, allowing more people to play and the rest to understand the convoluted plot. The English translation was a distractingly negative point in an otherwise shining idea of a game. In fact the world of Ivalice the game is placed in is said to be spelled four different ways throughout the story.

Of course, the story and translation must fall to the side when the subject of gameplay arises. If you are not an expert, you will find yourself grinding levels and abilities, or facing the game over screen regularly. Using familiar ff character classes, a turn-based grid-based combat is the core of tactics. As you level up characters' classes, new classes become available and a big part of the game becomes training your characters in hopes of finding a new class. Of course, if you've played console games during the past ten years, you already know this.

Counterfitt's pick #10 - Pokemon Diamond/Pearl

2008-01-12T04:02:00.000-08:00

Often overlooked in the past because of it's childish premise and graphic style, it seems that this time around the word is out that Pokemon is the real deal. It's a solid rock/paper/scissors rpg with small but competent improvements with each iteration. There's really not a big difference between the latest iteration and the first two games back in '97. With the ds there's finally a wifi connection for internet battles and touch screen for a different and well done interface; past that it's more of the same- collecting pokemon, leveling them up, and taking the best to fight the evil (if a bit incompetent) team rocket and the elite four pokemon trainers.

This is as addicting a game as you can find. There's rarely a moment in the beginning where you can avoid thinking that well known, "just one more _____," though it does get a bit repetitive later when the map is largely explored. There are some 120 more creatures added to the tally, bringing the total to over 500. Everything in this game is well balanced and even difficult, if you're rushing through the map. The nice thing is, less than a year later I'm ready to play through it again. It's a good thing when my biggest concern with a game is that I want more of it.

First Runner Up: Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3

2008-01-11T03:34:00.000-08:00

Of course, it's hard to decide which of this now dead franchise is the greatest. I can say that I've put more hours into the first installment than all of the others combined. The thing is, the tony hawk series starts as a streamlined, well crafted game and ends up as a bulky, over-saturated poorly designed game; somewhere in there they started to add moves, set pieces, and design elements just because they could and not because they're fun. By thps3, the moves added and combos allowed had completely changed the way the game had played before it started to go downhill(no pun intended).

Second Runner Up: Rock Band

2008-01-11T01:28:00.000-08:00

It's hard to tell at this early stage where a game will stand ten or twenty years from now, but I'm willing to cast my ballot early for this one.
It seems that after 2 years, the mainstream has finally caught on to Guitar Hero and how great it is. This creates a great opening for Rock Band to come in and take over the multiplayer space that Guitar Hero never can. Rock Band has succeeded in creating a new genre of game.

2008-01-10T23:00:00.000-08:00

Top 10 video games of all time, ready go!

2008-01-03T15:32:00.001-08:00

This is also a test ^^ ROLF get it?

First! lol

2008-01-02T15:23:00.000-08:00

Test post. Blah blah blah.

The End.