Jato Jato Jato

Chinter's Will

2012-02-25T00:57:00.003-05:00

Listening to Baptism by Crystal Castles.

Hey guys. Been a bit. Since I blogged about anything substantial I mean. This is your baptism.

I sit here, in the dark, in the lonely glow of the 15" LCD. And I suppose that's fitting. If there's one thing that I'm sure of it's that I'm unsure. Have I lost touch because I allowed the world to quietly slip away, or did it wrench its arm free and take flight?

It's just so fucking obnoxious. Like every day is chipping away some small part of my time and my patience I will never get back.

I feel like I have to say something just to say something. What else if there really left? Except this? Is this my primary ingredient? Or am I a condiment to something vague and awful and wonderful? Why is it snowing in February?

Why is everyone's life always different from what they imagine it? What happens to those ideals? Why do so many other's dreams involve cutting people on the broken shards of their hope and squeezing, and squeezing, and squeezing until their blood runs into the gutter?

Tilden came over today and talked about his plan to go back to school and get a degree in creative writing. I couldn't do such a thing, I've convinced myself it would be a waste. Am I really that bitter?

And now I have this whole exposition leading up to nothing and it makes me sound like a crackpot. Too much caffeine maybe. Too much alcohol, too much nicotine. I was supposed to mail my mom's birthday card today, totally slipped my mind.

We're out of BORT license plates in the gift shop.

I always liked the name Harkness. Like 'hark' and 'darkness' all rolled into one.

---

Harkness picked up his phone and clicked the power button again. And again the screen blinked to life, but the notification bar at the top remained empty. He paced restlessly in his room. Beyond the ajar door, the rest of the apartment was still and quiet. In the kitchen, a lamp with a halogen bulb cast the only other light besides the one pouring from his room, and the lively silence of the city ebbed and flowed within the corridors; drunk college kids yelling to and at each other on their way home, an occasional honk of a distant car horn, heavy footfalls from upstairs, and the hum of electronics and stifled pipes between the walls. All was as it should be. Except Harkness. He glanced at the TV and considered switching it on, but convinced himself not to. He should be getting to bed soon. He probably shouldn't start up a film, something he shouldn't have the time for. And yet, he continued to pace. Harkness would not admit it, but he felt alone. Glancing at his phone, he watched intently to see if the notification light had begun blinking since last he check, but it did not. The phone, like the empty apartment behind him, the sleepy night around him, and even the plastic bezel of the device itself, remained dark. picking up a glass set out on the stand next to his TV, he raised it to his lips before realizing that he had already emptied it. Replacing it bitterly on the TV stand, he contemplated refilling it before eventually talking himself out of that as well. A cold draft seeped in through the window he had cracked to allow some of the unwelcome heat from the radiator to drain from the room, and with it came the sounds of a man and women walking home through the slick streets. The rain too had departed sleepily into the long hours of the night. That special period of twilight between night and day. When normal people made their ways lazily home and dozed, or fucked, or maybe set out to work second shift. People other than Harkness that was. Crossing the cramped space of his room, Harkness leaned over the window and spied on the slumbering metropolis below. The flecks of water on the window and the glints of light catching on streets and cars from the freshly fallen rain gave the illusion that Harkness was gazing into a terribly detailed snow globe. Or maybe even a crystal ball. He reached out, meaning to shake it up and wretch the world back into the crisp kind of existence that only action could realize, but instead his had rested flat against the cool glass. He held in there, letting the cold seep into him, and a smokey outline formed around his outstretched fingers. A child, tracing them to be converted into shapes he could only guess at. Would it be a turkey? Or a dinosaur? An Alien maybe? Below, in the dozing streets Harkness heard a liquor bottle smash, and an inebriated man curse. He removed his hand and simply watched as the cold sucked the outline through the glass and back outside. Taking a seat in a dusty armchair beside his bed, Harkness lit up a cigarette and took long slow drags. He watched intently as sunlight began to filter in through the window beside him, filling the walls of his room like grains of sand filling an hourglass. And when the hourglass was full, and fresh, crisp chirps of morning birds began to filter in through the thin opening between the panes of glass in the sill, Harkness kicked off his boots, curled up in the middle of his large, empty bed, and slept a dreamless sleep.

Kingdoms

2012-02-05T16:45:00.004-05:00

I downloaded the Kingdoms of Amalur demo for PS3. The lore is pretty interesting, but the demo was plagued with technical problems. It was interesting for sure, but there was awful slowdown and the floor sometimes became blank areas that blurred the graphics above them. The gameplay was a mix between WoW and your standard action adventure fare. Which I kind of liked and kind of hated. It's an open world, but with no other players. So in some ways, grinding and doing fetch quests seems like even more of a waste of time than usual. The menu sound effects are also quite annoying and the dialog / voice overs were atrocious. I could hardly listen to them, and the choices they give you were unintuitive and didn't represent any choices I would have actually made myself. Bleh. If I get this, it will not be at full price.

In other gaming news, I suppose I'm dine with DnD. The campaign kind of ended a few weeks ago and my character pretty much lost. It easy in the case of a pad and paper RPG or a video game to get upset when your character fucks up, but with DnD, there isn't really a reset button. Which leads me to think that maybe instead of getting bend out of shape over it I should just cut my losses and invest my time into something else. I guess we'll see.

The Trouble with Android

2012-01-06T15:23:00.004-05:00

Android, as of late, has been failing to meet my expectations. But as I've realized after much thought on the subject, this is not Android's fault -- it was doomed not to be what Linux users such as me wanted from day 1.

The model for Linux distribution is very much based on user preference in the PC market. There is a huge variety of desktops, laptops, and other intermediate forms of hardware that Linux can be adapted to, but this is almost always at the expense of taking special steps to format the defacto OS. Linux has made great strides in user-friendliness in this regard though, enabling installation through Live CDs which can automatically format and install for users, and even bootable USB flash drives for system without an optical interface.

But today as I was reading a post about how Android is 'clopen' and how regular device updates have become a nightmare for manufacturers, I realized this peace -- this phenomenon where users choose the OS of their own free will and take auxiliary steps to install it -- is a huge crutch for Android. The closed nature of device manufacturers go to great pains (with some exceptions) to hide the process for rooting their hardware to even give users the options of installing custom ROMs. The fragmentation of the Android eco-system is both a symptom and cause of this.

For users who want to run the most current Android ROM, there are accessibility barriers above and beyond what the average PC user faces, and furthermore, I would wager there is an even greater dependency of closed-source drivers and packages needed to keep the device fully-functional after such an installation.

But for the majority of Android users, those who just see buying and Android phone as a product, the desire to maintain the software themselves is non-existent. There is no drive to incorporate the latest updates by either the majority of end users of the 'open source' platform, nor do OEMs particularly want to adapt kernels to sometimes literally hundreds of individual devices and then request multiple wireless carriers to push the content out over the air at great cost.

The original strength behind Linux and behind open source is the idea that users would be free to cooperatively develop the features and infrastructure of the OS and install these updates as they see fit. But the limitation which have been put in place make this impossible. Everyone waits with bated breath for Google to roll out a new release of Android, and when it finally drops, the majority of devices won't see it and their users won't care.

This is why Android will never be a true or useful open source platform. Sure, it's a great system for developers of mobile applications, but simply writing programs based on the platform does not constitute the openness that is exclusive to open source.

Future Future Future Perfect

2011-12-29T01:15:00.002-05:00

I'm becoming senile in my gaming old age. I think this year, more than the rest, has been a year for me to go out and find my own way in terms of games to buy, play and enjoy. No greater evidence of that exists than Demon's Souls. And yet, here we are coming into 2012, and I feel even more strongly that I should not go out of my way to indulge tastes which are so obviously not mine.

IGN posted a link to an 'article' (if you can call they utter garbage IGN writes now articles) about a man who went on a crusade to become a PC gamer. It was a few paragraphs and barely elaborated that the author was very excited for Diablo 3. My cynicism in this is twofold.

First, the idea that the inclusion of a new platform in your life is exceedingly noteworthy. In the article, he professed that since he built a computer, not only is Diablo 3 available to him, but libraries of hundreds of thousands of titles. if you have the time to play all of them, then I commend you. But I'd be willing to bet a modest amount of my worth that you do not, and aside from a smattering of exclusive titles, the addition of PC gaming will not be earth-shattering.

Second, is the idea that Diablo 3, by itself, is worth investing in a PC. I'm sick of people insisting that any single game experience is worth the price tag of hardware required to play it alone. Sure, there are games that sell systems, but these titles usually reinforce an already well-built argument for such a purchase. I think this is why my PS3 survived the purge* and my Xbox 360 did not. I looked at the two of them and said, "Apart from playing games, what value do you have to add to my life?" The PS3 is a blu-ray player, as well as having the same streaming capabilities the 360 has, such a Netflix. The Wii, even less so than these two, which is why it was the first to go.

But Diablo 3? One of my very good friends made a joke about Diablo 3 one night; he made the kind of assumed statements which transcend fallacy, about how once it comes out we'll all have no lives together on account of how much of our mutual free time it will sap. But I proceeded to disagree and carefully explain that playing Diablo 3 will be just like playing Diablo 2 and that I see no need for it. Not that it was be very similar or reminiscent of, but the same. And to this, he could not argue. And herein lies the problem I have with modern gaming. Read any Yahtzee review on a Nintendo game and you'll understand. With so many titles coming out, it isn't enough to just re-hash one with better graphics and call it a day. Sure, there are some series I continue to buy despite them doing this, but it's often because of a third factor; storyline, a favorite character, challenge, setting, nostalgia.

While I agree that people should be free to pick and choose, the mistake my friend made was not in implying that he should not be free to like Diablo 3 just because it's an unimaginative copy of Diablo 2, but in assuming that because it's new and will be popular, that I will be playing it without a doubt. On the contrary, I prefer to play games after their 'coolness' factor has expired. Because this year, and on into the coming one, I don't want to play games for the sake of a hype machine, or marketing, or to be current and 'know what's going on." I want to play them because I want to play them. That will be good enough for me.

*The purge refers to my systematic destruction of every dedicated gaming hardware platform except for one, mostly due to my realization that I haven't the time or inclination or money to support gaming on multiple platforms.

Form VS Function VS Form

2011-12-27T13:28:00.003-05:00

The Android / iOS debate for me has come down to one thing; How the phone looks on the outside versus how it looks on the inside.

By this point I would be willing to admit that both are very comparable in terms of 'apps,' although some iOS users would disagree. What it really has come down to for me is the housing and the software theme.

The iPhone 4 is a sexy piece of hardware. Polished glass bezels, tied together with an aluminum frame, the design and aesthetics themselves border on art. More importantly, that obnoxious convex backing is gone from Apple's previous models. Android phones, by comparison, look like garbage. The Galaxy S II and DROID RAZR phones try by still fail to capture the hardware magic that Apple engineering has.

However, while perhaps owing more to function, the iOS theme is kind of bland and passive. Not that the stock Android theme is much better, but the appeal of Android lies in the apps one can easily get to customize and stylize their interface. iOS has got nothing on this. Considering more people spend time looking at their screen and what's on it than the enclosure itself, and I think Android delivers strongly in this category.

I'm still extremely deadlocked in terms of which I ultimately think is better, but I thought this was an interesting observation.

Geek Differenze

2011-07-05T00:06:00.003-04:00

Over the course of many years, I've had to come to terms with the fact that although I am a geek (nerd, whatever), I do not enjoy mainstream geek phenomenon. This is difficult for me because the geek subculture has always represented a social space where individuals are free to like anything they please, no matter how 'lame.' But the other side of the coin, which I was vaguely aware existed, is that you're not as free to dislike certain things. Most of these things being 'cool' geek memes.

For example, I hate Joss Whedon. If you can't understand why, watch Alien and Aliens, then watch Alien Resurrection. It's awful, and for that I blame poor writing, which would directly implicate Joss Whedon. However, as he is the creator or incredibly mediocre series "Firefly", disliking him has radical repercussions. My geek friends remarkably all say the same thing, which is "You're allowed to have an opinion, even if it's completely wrong." This extreme polarization disturbs me in two ways: It belittles my friends to me specifically, and it belittles geeks to me in general.

I would attribute this mostly to the proliferation of geekery. While once before we had to stick together to increase our numbers for fear of being preyed upon, we now exist in such robust numbers that even small subgroups can compose enough individuals to support a unique population which refuses to consent to any others. And this could likely be attributed to the Internet, which geeks embraced and which allowed geeks to easily find and associate with others very easily.

I liken the situation gamers who shun anyone who doesn't play Call of Duty on an Xbox 360. Beh.

For the record, I don't like Joss Whedon. Looking as his credits, I just can't find anything he's done which I have enjoyed.

Good Morning

2011-07-04T23:59:00.002-04:00

Steps for a perfect morning:

Listen to Daft Punk. [Daft Punk is awesome. Apply this awesomeness to every morning for superior results.]
Always stop for coffee. [When running late, people often skip coffee. Well, the way I see it, you have two choices: You can still be late with coffee, or you can still be late, without coffee.]
Never rush. [Rushing in the morning is bad, mmm'kay, because rushing at this crucial time can make you forget things or do things which will ruin the rest of your day as well. Take your goddamn time.]

Swordfish of Doubt

2011-02-07T01:21:00.005-05:00

Listening to Brotherhood of the Drum by Kj Sawka on Pandora's Zircon station.

I'm this this late for some reason, firstly. Secondly, I guess I've always been kind of a night owl so whatever. And something's been weighing heavy on my mind. I still don't really know what I'm doing this year. And by this I mean:

Am I going to stay in Boston?
If so, where will I live?
If no, where will I go?

I still haven't formally decided what / where I'd like to do. A lot of people I know are talking about moving away, another number are staying, but in the same kinds of places I'm meh about. I don't mind the apt I'm in, but it's super run down, and if I'm going to live in Boston still, I'd like a newer one. But then, I also still need roommates.. It's just so complex. If I ended up leaving altogether, there are a lot of people I care about whom I would miss, but then when might I get this kind of chance again?

I also have a sucking lack of free time as of late. I took up writing for the Dig in a part-time manner and the internship with that company because I was only temping or not working at all. It seemed like (and still is) a good opportunity to write / hone my craft / learn some cool stuff, but now I literally don't have time to not do anything. Especially now that I have this shitty job. I stayed until 1800 every night last week except Friday, when I stayed until 1930. Total bullshit. I cannot picture myself working there for much longer.

But coming from a life of just staying home and also knowing that the chances to to see people you care about are not forever, I feel obligated to do things with people who invite me out. But it's a point now where I don't have any time to do anything but that. Part of the problem is that I categorize the things I want to do as trivial -- play videogames maybe, or read. And what is that compared to the human camaraderie? But it also contributes to stressing out a certain part of me. A part of me that doesn't want to have to travel, and always be at a certain place at a certain time, regardless of the weather, and that doesn't want to feel obligated to act in a certain manner because I'm not alone and not in my own apt, and might end up having to do something I don't want to to satisfy a group.

As it stands now, I haven't written for or talked to the Dig in about two weeks and told the internship I don't have the time anymore. I feel bad about the Dig, and I intend to keep writing for them, but at the same time I need to decompress or I won't be doing anyone any favors.

Additional:
People I know such at scheduling things. Hey people I know: Can you not all plan stuff on the same fucking day after weeks of silence? Like this coming weekend, I was invited to broboarding, and a birthday bar crawl. Well, it also happens to be V-Day and I have plans with girl so... you all... fail? It's always the same situation. No one invites me to do anything when I'm not busy (admittedly, less and less these days) but as soon as I have something important planned, it's like "OMG, LET'S DO SOMETHING LOLOLOLOL!" Please stop doing that so I can spend some time with everyone?

Everything's coming up Jato

2011-01-21T22:37:00.004-05:00

OK, so I have a job now. Which is pretty cool, let me tell you. I get paid and benefits and such.

Still writing for the Dig, which is equally cool.

I might end up abandoning ship on the internship though. Just because I'm not good at music things and because my plate is a little too full right now. It's getting stressful.

I have this whole dilemma now because I'm not super sure about moving to Portland now. Like, I wanted to leave kind of because things here weren't shaping up the way I wanted them too, but now things are every-so-slightly awesome. I ditched Best Buy (finally!) and got a 'real' job. I write, both for my work and as a pastime.

I also met this awesome girl who is awesome. And we like each other and all that stuff that people do when they like each other. It's great. I had almost forget how awesome that feeling is, when you're so eager to learn about someone, when you realize at random points in the day that you can't stop thinking about them. There is kind of a distance component, but don't they say absence makes the heart grow fonder? Or was that absinthe? Umm... But yeah, I'm really hoping there's a real relationship here and definitely going to put in the effort to find out.

We went to ARISIA together. Which, it's like I've never been to a legitimate sci-fi convention before and OMG WHY NOT? There were costumes and Doctor Who radio shows, and all kinds of awesome stuff. Con atmosphere is so exhilarating. She wore this Dalek dress she made with her friends, so there were four girls in Dalek dresses. If you don't know what a Dalek is, get out of my blog. But that was super awesome, because Doctor Who is the shit. It was also like... You know when you go to a con and you see a really cute girl with an awesome costume, and she keeps getting a bunch of compliments and stuff from all these people, but she's hanging out with this guy. And you're like. "Wow, that guy must be wicked awesome." Yeah, I was that guy.

I went as what is quickly becoming my old standby, Edward Scissorhands. It wasn't a bad costume, but I didn't shave, so it was so ghetto. I actually got hit on at least once too, but lets just say she was no Dalek.

N00b Year

2011-01-02T16:40:00.002-05:00

Here is my really real list of resolutions for this year:

At least start writing one of my novel ideas.
Write more in general. Articles, blogs, whatever, just do it.
Beat the games I have. Either finished them or get rid of them because if I bought it, I should use it, and if I'm not going to, why bother keeping it? I could get money back for it.
Buy less videogames, and try my best to avoid buying games with multiplayer-- I have very little time to play videogames now as it is, and with multiplayer, it's just paying for something in a game I'm even less likely to use. It's time to remedy this situation.
If Plants VS Zombies is released for the Playstation 3 videogame console, I will trade in my newly repaired Xbox 360 and all of its games.
Collect all of the trophies for Demon's Souls.
Travel more. I want to see more places and do more things.
Continue to not buy a car.
Make more friends.
Buy a new bike.

News to Me

2010-09-21T19:35:00.003-04:00

A list of truths I have come to accept that make life totally fucking awesome:

1// It's OK to ask for things. If you're like me, you probably feel obligated to be as independent as possible. And this means if someone you know has something you want, you also feel like it would be rude to ask for it and imply that the friendship is based on what advantage they can give you and not their company. Well, also if you happen to be life me, you probably don't mind when people ask you for things, because helping your friends is what being a good person is all about. So stop applying the double standard. We all need things. If someone you know can get it for you, ask them. The worst things that will happen is they say no.

2// There are such things as bad friends. You might think that because you have the appearance of friendship with someone, you're obligated to do things for them or go places they want. That's true and all, because asking for things is OK, but if they ask too much, too often, and refuse the universal indicator of friendship, reciprocation, then they are not your friend. They are a douche bag. Please do try and explain your feelings and see if they will treat you the way you'd like to be treated. If they won't though, get rid of the loser.

3// Have regrets. You know how when you went over that cliff, in a ball of flaming wreckage that used to be a hard-top Chevy, you screamed "I regret nothing!"? Well, first of all, stop driving a Chevy hard-top it's a waste of metal and gasoline. Buy a bike. Second, you're doing it wrong. Your life needs to evolve. Scientific evolution is referred to as constant change over time. So what you need to do, in order to best fit your life, is change over time. This means sometimes making bad choices, and adapting based on those outcomes later. If you've never had any regrets, aside form being some kind of incredible asshole, you're not living your life as well as you could.

4// Trust with standards. You should def trust people. But do so in such a way as to minimize casualties. At least at first. Trusting too much can hurt you. Not trusting at all can shut you out from important human interaction and the chances of finding someone you really connect with. The solution. A hybridized trust gel which can be applied topically. Srsly though, at first, trust very little. But then with continued success, reward your friends and acquaintances with more trust.

5// It is PERFECTLY ACCEPTABLE to dislike someone for absolutely no reason. Have you ever had one of those situations where you don't like someone as soon as you meet them, and then find out later their an awesome person. Have you ever seen a really ugly guy with a smokin' broad? Well, peoples company preferences, like many things such as color, flavor, and texture, are for the most part arbitrary. And the part that isn't has probably been programmed into us subconsciously since we were babies. The moral? If you are really worried about having judged someone unfairly, don't. Mostly, once you spend some time with them you'll warm up to them. But if you don't, then don't waste a second thought about it, because we are all, unfortunately, human. And not liking things for no good reason is second nature to us. Hate the boyfriend of the girl you've had a crush on for a year just because they're dating? Well hey, you're not fucking him, have at it! Despise a guy you didn't even know worked with you because he got that promotion you were gunning for? Go nuts. Now, this doesn't mean you have to be overtly cruel to them, and indeed I advise against such Neanderthal actions. But not liking someone? A-OK.

Ban Hammer

2010-09-21T19:27:00.004-04:00

In the past months, I've been transforming... Into a garbage truck.

No seriously though, I quit Best Buy, that fucking cancer of life, I graduated with my bachelors in political science, and I've been dropping the ban hammer on people and things in my life that make me unhappy.

I have decided to take more control. Over what I do, who I spend my time with, and what I like / want. I refuse to work at a stupid job I hate, I refuse to allow myself to be forced into unhappy situations, and most of all... If you have been someone in my life that takes, and takes, and takes, and gives nothing back... If you don't respect me, if you waste my time, if what matters to me is trivial to you... I'm going to fucking deal with you. I will tell you how I really feel, and then I will drop you like the dead weight you really are.

Holiday Wrap-Up

2009-12-25T21:02:00.004-05:00

My Xmas was up and down this year, and strange in many ways.

In many ways, I was more full of spirit than I normally have been, and this I owe to those around me who have been prodding me with it. I bought gifts for more people, and so I had more about it to talk about, and was more excited, etc, etc.

I also saw my cousin today, which is awesome. We get along great, and her boyfriend Mik is also really cool. I didn't have any plans for New Year's, but I do now because they invited me along and for once I can go because I requested new year's day off. How's that for family coming through in a clinch?

My last day of work had a genial atmosphere, it was not as bad as it could have been... I got awesome presents from my friends, and when I called my roommate in Vermont to thank her, at the moment her house answered, my house phone rang. When I hung up with her a few minutes later I got the best gift of all this holiday, which was a call from my brother in Afghanistan.

But the season did not pass without any storm clouds. The mother of my childhood best friend seems to have the onset of Alzheimer's. They are also selling their house and moving, possibly separating, and there is a darkness about this I cannot begin to explain. Like someone taking a wrecking ball to your childhood.

My very good friend and former coworker has been fired. It wasn't his fault. And in this economy, when you've spent maybe as much as the last decade in retail, and jobs drying up, what is there to go back to?

And I've been depressed. Today is perhaps better than average, but mostly for some reasons I will not name I've been staying out late, drinking heavily, and trying to remain numb. The world has not been good to those close to me. It's been a particularly warm day, but it has been a particularly cold winter.

Three, Two, One, go.

2009-12-14T22:09:00.008-05:00

Three topics:

I saw Metric. Their show was fucking terrible. They considering playing about four songs drawn out with irritatingly long instrumental segments a concert. There was little to no energy anywhere other than ten feet in front of the stage, and I mostly played with my phone for lack of excitement. They also took the song which hooked me on the band, Combat Baby, and burned it to death with a slow, meandering acoustic; in other words, the exact opposite of the finest qualities of the song. I'm having serious reservations about getting any more of their work because of this and some comments Emily Haynes made while she was here for the FNX show this summer to the effect of only indie rock bands like Metric and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs (don't get me wrong, I love the Yeah Yeah Yeahs) counting as real music. lolwut? You, as an artist, should know better than this childish bullshit of trying to condense 'music' down to only the genre you happen play. But I haven't gotten Fantasies yet, and I heard it's killer. Unlike their live shows. Burn.

Second Chance: I also saw Nitzer Ebb much more recently at the Paradise. Let me say, it was goddamned amazing. It was so good I almost died. I got right up front, center stage, and watched next to a couple of die-hard fans going from show to show. It was one of the most intense (camping) displays of raw, musical, sexual, energy I've ever seen. Douglas McCarthy wore a suit and aviator sunglasses, dripping with sweat, thanking the crowd after each song, belting out everyones favorites, floating around the stage, making sure everyone got close, encouraging us to sing along, and only stopping between songs to tuck his shirt back in (he was meticulous) and take a drink of water. By the end of the show I was exhausted, hot, and had screamed myself hoarse. In other words, it was a good show. I will lie, cheat, steal, and kill to make sure I see them at the next earliest convenience.

And last but not least: Left for Dead 2. or should I say Left FAIL Dead 2? I was not a boycotter, and generally started her up ready to enjoy some quality zombie-killing time with my friends, but the game is a piece of garbage compared to the first. It does look better, but that's about it. Let me break it down for you:

There are melee weapons now, but this means that at the beginning of and most of the way through the first section, Valve will not give you a primary weapon. Just melee and pistols. Awesome. The melee weapons are OK with the exception of the chainsaw, which I never used.
The levels are longer and even more monotonous than before. The first game had short campaigns, but this was one of its strengths; they were not long enough to be boring, but long enough to make you feel fulfilled. Most of the time my mates and I would play just one campaign and then sign off, and it was enough. But Valve seems to think that what we want is way more time spent looking for a stairwell we missed or running across streets for no reason. The levels also seem to be less linear and harder to navigate which is NOT an advantage or feature. It's just annoying.
The new infected are pretty much just bull-shit cards. The balance between the infected before was OK as they each had a role to fill, but all of the new ones I've seen involve being able to shoot you from far away before you can ever see them or instantly attacking you, also from no where. The charger and jockey literally close the gap between you and where ever they appear instantly. And if you have a melee weapon equipped, I hope you're not planning on killing a jockey. Go ahead, I fucking dare you. You know why? Because they don't jump. They appear on your head from a certain distance away. As one comes toward me, I aim up to anticipate the arc of descent and possibly knock it out of the air. Instead, before it leaves the ground at all, from a few feet away it just kind of blinks out and I've suddenly got one on my head. Shenanigans.
And if all that wasn't enough, the controls have been fucked with as well. they do that acceleration bullshit, and basically the result is you feeling like the controller is underwater when you play. I can go from popping off heads in L4D or Borderlands to stopping short of targets constantly and missing or overcompensating and still missing.

And the problem from the first game where anything right next to you can somehow not be hit by your gunfire is back with a vengeance. Fail. I don't know what's worse, that Valve made a terrible game, something they haven't done since the original Half-Life, or that all of our worth-their-weight-in-shit game reviewers pretty much sucked it off in their write-ups.

Coming up next: Bayonetta VS Dante's Inferno VS God of War Collection epic mega battle.

Hanging out in the Borderlands

2009-11-07T19:16:00.002-05:00

Borderlands. Verdict: Fun!

Borderlands is light on story, but big on fun. There really are a bazillion guns, there are interesting environments, and the difficulty curves up enough to keep challenging but not to be impossible. Having more people makes it harder and more interesting as well. The only negative aspects are the story (or lack thereof), a dialog that pops up to ask if people can join in the middle of firefights, and a lack of personality among all of the characters. There is a lot of emphasis on what character fills what archtype, but there is very little choice and development of this personality.

All of the vault hunters have quips they speak every so often that gives you a glimpse of them as people, but there is no interaction between other player characters (Mass Effect had wonderful interactions between your NPC squadmates, and this helped to add an unprecedented amount of depth to them in my opinion), and no real development beyond this. Considering the emphasis on coop play, this was a disappointing to me. But it doesn;t take away from the game, it just doesn't add anything either.

In other news, I put a customer bootloader and Rockbox on a 30GB iPod I got for free. Now I just need to buy a replacement headphone jack assembly to fix the sound problem and BLAM! It supports Ogg Vorbis, mass storage, etc. Yay! Although the iPod was on Mac before I got it, so I had to use mtools to reformat it to be FAT32. (worst file system ever)

What's Monday

2009-10-18T21:21:00.000-04:00

Just one more day until Borderlands. Win.

Should Tackle?

2009-10-10T21:34:00.002-04:00

Oh, and what is PS3 developers deals with using the fucking shoulder buttons for EVERYTHING? At least the 360's are shaped like triggers.. Shoulder buttons should be banned from the PS3.

Most games I play have controls about as intuitive as trying to mend a pair of pants with a pick-axe.

Playstation 3

2009-10-10T21:17:00.004-04:00

I got a new game for PS3, Demon's Souls. In light of this new game, I have critic things to say about PS3 as a platform.

Where are the fucking games?

Although there have been killer apps released already, the PS3 lacks the kind of games the other platforms have, and by this I mean every game on the PS3 feels like a chore to play. I can't just sit down and crank out a round of Killzone 2, or play a couple of levels of Demon's Souls. It's either devote a huge amount of time to a game where getting killed might mean starting over from scratch, or nothing.

PS3 games are also notorious for a sucking lack of character development of any kind. In a game like Mass Effect, you not only buy new weapons and armor, but mostly add skill points you earn to your character and influence their abilities as a whole. You define who you are in these games, and no PS3 developer seems to be willing to let you do this. They want to tell you, unarguably, who you are and what you do. The most I've seen of this in PS3 games is buying new weapons or upgrading things you already have. There is no such thing as development for the PS3, just upgrades.

And in terms of difficulty, although having to start all over again when you die might be fine for the Sega Genesis and Super NES generation, having to do so when levels have the richness, depth, and detail of a next-gen console is just fuck-tacularly shitty. Get fucked Demon's Souls.

Pawhtland

2009-10-10T16:01:00.005-04:00

Portland, OR was sick nasty.

Alcohol at 7-E.

An arcade that serves alcohol.

Pinball.

Vintage clothes shops.

Nightlife.

The place was cool. A healthy mix of urban and suburban. They have a PT system that doesn't really collect or verify your fare. Nichole and her boyfriend Adam were delightful. I met Nichole's friend Andre who was pretty cool. (and pretty gay, and pretty Russian) Oh, but there's no Dunks in Portland, OR... Wtf?

The flights were kind of hell. From BOS to SFO was about six hours behind some lady who constantly punched the seat in front of her. I lost my hat on that flight too. I DID have an empty seat next to me though. SFO to PDX was just about an hour, no biggie. PDX to ORD on the way back was lame, but I met a businessman from Minnesota. I had an awful two hour layover at O'Hare, and then the flight from ORD to BOS was the worst because it was the last one and passed SO SLOWLY.

I bought nick-nacks and sent postcards, etc. Overall though, it was a very homey place, and I could see myself living there.

In recent news, I interviewed for an internship at The Weekly Dig as a copyeditor. My contact was very nice, patient, and told me pretty much I could have the internship if I wanted despite having shown up soaked (it rained) and still in my Best Buy uniform. (I didn't have time to change after work) The trick now is to get Best Buy to stop scheduling me on two days.

I have to say that from what you read in the Dig (the sarcasm and ego) its personnel are jarringly professional and courteous. Wow. Needless to say I'm super-psyched and hope I get to work there.

My contact from the flight also wants to show me some info on his business and maybe get me a job in some from.

Things are looking up right now.

I bought Demon's Souls too, it's supposed to be sick. Gonna play that today.

Other Randomness:
Had a weird dream I told my roommate one of my darkest secrets?
Been dreaming a lot more than usual lately.
Got an email from Jeff!
Some people actually missed me when I went on vacation.
Sarah McLachlan is the shit.
Does anyone know where to play pinball in Boston?

Gimme Friction

2009-09-28T21:11:00.004-04:00

I'm really enjoying my writing class. My story (what I have of it so far) was well recieved by my teacher and I am greatly encouraged to finish it and write more and more.

I suck at poetry though, and have no business practicing my mediocrity in such an art.

I should clean snake-face's tank before I leave too. To do, to do.

I've been listening to a lot of Nine Inch Nails lately too. Not that I don't anyway, but I have been spending time alone with it, listening to it, and learning the kind of things about it that makes you love an artist, or a song, or an album in the first place.

His songs are very painful, but in some strange way I have found an unusual ammount of comfort in this. It's as if the empathy of knowing there is some one who has hurt so much comforts me when I hurt. Which is a lot lately. For reasons I care not to disclose. But it's like he poured this, dispair and brokenness, and misery into these songs.

He one of the few artists I can say make me feel emotion when I listen to them. Depeche Mode is like that. If love has a sound, it's Depeche Mode. But if pain has a sound it's Nine Inch Nails. Which to me, is an astounding feat.

Zia is not coming to Portland. And this makes me sad. But I will still see Nichole. And that should be fun. I miss her a lot. She's is a different kind of friend to me. I am really nervous about this trip though. As I often am when traveling.

ODS Tea (cont.)

2009-09-28T21:04:00.004-04:00

So, allow me to add onto what I said in my last post:

ODST also bothers me because of it's irritating combat. The maps are like upside-down triangles; You get these small spaces to manuver in, and up in the high-rises above you are Jackels and Brutes with impecable aim, and Bungie hands you a shotgun or needler. Or when I'm clearing out the narrow corridors of a room, I find several sniper rifles. It's just unfitting and I mostly find myself dying because I can't actually progress any further geographically because I have no weapons with which to kill my enemies. Considering the 'story' mechanic, I really have no incentive to play it. Which is unfortunate because ODST had, to me, the most potential of any new Halo game coming out.

ODS Tea

2009-09-27T18:39:00.004-04:00

I have played my fair share of Halo 3 ODST, and I am prepared to render my verdict.

I hate it.

And before the hate comes tumbling in, allow me to elaborate.

The characters and story are promising, but too promising for the format of the game. The opening cinematic shows a tight-knit squad, which is promptly broken up minutes later and what follows and an unenjoyable, unpersonable romp through New Mombasa. I find myself missing the sack-of-hammers-dumb AI squadmates that I curse in most games.

The pacing and mechanics of the game are terrible. From the beginning, directions on where to go are vague and most of the time the weapons I have are inappropriate for the task at and. Vital transmissions and mission data appear in the middle of hot firefights. If Bungie wanted you to know what was going on, this is lost on me, as most of the time important chatter is occurring while I'm dodging grenades.

But most of all, the cartoonish, bright, technicolor atmosphere is just too big of a pill to swallow anymore. Compared to games like Modern Warefare 2, Killzone 2, or other gritty shooters, I found myself rejecting Halo and its pastel colors and lack of blood. There is something jarring and fantastic about Halo, and sometimes this is charming. But for Halo's tone, for its setting of an Earth destroyed and a humanity making a final stand against a common enemy, it's too comical to believe. This is the main reason why I cannot play ODST anymore. Every time I kill a Covenant enemy and their blood is blue or purple, every time I pick up a gun whose ammo is bright pink, all of the realism is sucked away. I have no faith in myself or my character anymore.

Ceremonial Cake Dish

2009-09-15T21:25:00.005-04:00

I dusted off the old cake dish today. Yeah, I made another cake. I know right? years later, and now it's cake day once again.

I was, at one point in the day, happy. I got some much needed training for SWAT, cakes were up, the trip to Everett went off without a hitch, I arrived very early and had time to get breakfast too. But in the afternoon, as I gathered my cake supplies (after playing some WipEout HD, which is sick) I recieved a reminded that my problems don't disappear, or get solved, they just change shape, change size, become other things, become other people.

I'm out of here ASAP. Really want to get out of Boston. Want to live under a new skyline, I want to meet new people, I want to have new friends, I want to find new loves.

In other news I have decided to buy my books Friday because that's when I get paid and I'm out of moneys. I only have two classes so I'll wing it until then. It's the first one, what are they really gonna cover? Notebook + pen = sufficient. Paying for things sucks. Still haven't really ruled out getting a different job, but at the same time, what can I get entry level that pays as well as this?

There's a new Silent Hill coming out for Wii and I must have it.

I need sleep.

Good night.

Aren't you glad I didn't say "PI" again?

2009-09-14T22:44:00.004-04:00

Yesterday / today was PI, which went awesome. I woke up, had breakfast, but really knew the day was going to take off when I went to Dunks to settle my caffeine fit and found Mountain Dew Voltage.

PI Went swimmingly. The system went down at like... All day. And then it came back up! So I scanned a shit load of stuff, and it was all correct and I corrected a shit load of other stuff, and even though I told Tilden it was going to be a great PI and he said I was wrong, it WAS a great PI. I went home at 600 and slept. Oh and working for over twelve hours in a Sunday? $$

Today I thought was going to be a bad day, but it turned out to be an excellent day. I went to try and buy books before class, but I slept for so long I only had time to make it to class and not buy things for it. But we didn't need a book, or paper, someone just gave me a pen, and I got the new Dig so score! Then on my way home Dianne called me and we went out for ice cream after I got home. Although I have serious doubts that I will be able to sleep after PI fucked up my cycle it means that right now I don't feel tired or that staying up late is all that bad.

My classes are awesome: I have Creative Writing finally and Dreams and Dreaming, so hells yeah!

For The Fallen

2008-10-22T18:35:00.006-04:00

So yesterday, like most days, I had a lot to do. And in the middle of it, the Microsoft reps show up and bring both toil and fan swag. Pete, the media sup, shows me some col Fable 2 pins and magnets, but also a kick-ass set of GOW 2 COG tags. But then of course he tells me they need all the 360s brought down from the shelves in the bays of the media warehouse so they can split them open and add a bonus disc with two free retail games (Pro and Elite get Lego Indiana Jones and Kung-Fu Panda, Arcade models only get Sega Superstars Tennis). So I spent the next three or so hours getting Xboxen down with a ladder, then putting them back up after. But then there's the cool part. Afterward they're like, "wow thanks for the help this went so much quicker thanks to you!" Then right as they're about to leave, "Oh, by the way, here's Fable 2 pins, Fable 2 magnet, COG tags, and Xbox pen." I felt like I had just completed a quest in World of Warcraft or something. I could feel my EXP rising. But I helped someone out and I got a reward and I felt pretty good.

Which, speaking of quests, is a great segway into Fable 2. They make you have rescue and own a dog, which considering the decision based nature of the game and the emphasis on choosing good or evil seems odd and out of character. And I hate dogs. It proceeded to spend the next thirty minutes running around like and idiot barking at chests it 'sniffed out' that are plainly visible from several yards away. Splendid. But once I got into the game the dog mechanic faded to the background as I killed things. A lot of things.

But there is a lot to do in Fable aside from killing things and trying to figure out which combination of buttons kicks your dog. In the short time I played today I defeated some bandits, upgraded my max health, went diving in the lake for loot, freed some slaves and killed their wicked owner, and found a rusty flint-lock pistol which Fable 2 informed me was better than my splintered crossbow. Wow.

The thing that struck me the most however, was the range of extra-things you can do aside from your run of the mill action-rpg element. Also while playing today I reached level 4 in blacksmithing, put my house up for rent so I can collect gold every 5 minutes, even while the game is turned off, and hit on a sundry selection of women in town. You can follow a tradition role in the game and are encouraged via achievements to marry, have sex, and become pregnant or knock up your wife depending on the sex of your character (I was delighted when the first item my dog found buried in the ground was a condom)

Religion and governments hatred of video games has always made it clear that they are a highly progressive (and violent, and blasphemous) media. But a look around the gaming world now has a game with same sex marriages, one about altering yourself with genetics and seeing if this power will really change who you are inside and if power really does corrupt, and striding along side them one where you can use your enemies as human shields (Mostly banned) and one which depicts the nations capitol ruined by nuclear fallout (Not banned yet). And nipping at their heels is a game globally recalled because of lyrics in a song on the soundtrack that are actually quoted from a holy Islamic text, the second time this has happened in gaming history.

My point? Video games have defied the recession and have been trending up ahead of other industries for years, and show no signs of slowing down. The next media du jour, the next ideological battle ground, the next 'big thing' if it isn't already is video games. There is even the Video Game Voters Network (http://www.videogamevoters.org/) which focuses about educating gaming voters about issues that effect them. Still need proof? Obama is now running ads in video games. (http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=95720334)

Tenori-on

2008-07-20T00:21:00.001-04:00

DO WANT: Tenori-on

FTW

2008-07-06T23:03:00.000-04:00

I just won!

GTA IV

2008-04-14T20:36:00.001-04:00

== Preordered.

My Giftcardmanz. Let me show them to you.

2008-04-09T18:06:00.003-04:00

Best Buy is giving away $50.00 gift cards to early adopters of HD-DVD; anyone who purchased a player before February 23, 2008 is entitled to some kind of consullation prize for those of us who chose the 'wrong' next-gen format. Well, guess who adopted HD-DVD early!? Guess who has two thumbs and ZERO AIDS! THIS GAL!

It's gonna take like, 3-6 weeks. Lame. But not as lame as not getting $50.00 free.

16C

2008-04-02T17:14:00.004-04:00

It was something like 16 degrees yesterday. Awesome. Spring might not be just myth after all. So when I got home I did massive amounts of laundry.

I have today off because I worked way too much on Sunday. Because the prices didn't change until we opened. Ew. So I got up and went down to Dunks to get a bagel, and no lie ten police cruisers and a paddy wagon came blazing down the streets, sirens blazing. Some of them were also blazing while driving. Some shit went down somewhere in Boston.

I also bought some comic books, which I have discovered are amazing. (except the Marvel and DC ones) Then on my way back, there was a small crown gathered outside a corner store two blocks up from me and filming and cheering. BOR-ING!

I had a date last week. It bombed at some point. Whatev.

I'm also trying to find these environmentally friendly shoes by Simple. (http://simpleshoes.com) They told me to go look at the Wholf. Shoes? In MY Wholf?

I bought a zapper for my Wii. Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles is embarrassingly bad. Mostly because even though it says Zapper compatible on the back, the Zapper control scheme recommends you not use the Zapper while using the Zapper. Wait, what?

26-hour Shuffle

2008-03-11T22:43:00.004-04:00

Jato is now satellite enabled. I bought a satellite radio (Sirius), one of the ones that you can carry with you instead of putting it in a car or home, and it's amazing. It does what I want, which is not make me convert my music to MP3 while exposing me to new artists I would not have heard of through just my own collection. I have the Stiletto 2, and this thing also lets you grab any song your listening to by pressing one button, and it records it to memory, so you can have hours of content to listen to while out of satellite transmission range.

New drink discovery: Captain and cranberry. Skould.

You guys will never guess what I got my hands on today. Silent Hill Origins for PS2. They ported it to the PS2 because of poor sales on the PhailStationPortable. And although the PS2 should still fuck off, at least I get to play it now, with FGN even.

I also bought No More Heroes for Wii, which is amazing.

Super Smash Bros. Brawl came out and you know what, I don't like it, I am not impressed. Seriously Nintendo, what the fuck? Stop dicking things up.

I think I found a new place to live too. In Watertown; 2 cats, in unit dryer, no bugs or mice, awesome roommates, down the street form my work. The router would be in my room == hardwire connection for fast gaming.

Speaking of work, we had PI. I worked for twenty-six hours total, twenty-one of those being Sunday hours. This week, combined with the previous one of forty-five hours, means I will have mad cash stacks. Factor in the two returns I am getting, and my net worth is going to be up somewhere around thirteen Xbox 360 Pros!

I got new glasses today, and I can see so much stuff now it's fucking scary. But I notice I am now also not sitting ridiculously close to the TV, and leaning over my desk to push my face into the computer screen. Modern technology: 1, Mild inconvenient postures for a few hours a day: 0.

Portrait of Dante

2008-01-26T07:21:00.000-05:00

I played the DMC4 demo... Amazing. They got rid of that damn Devil Trigger and put something useful in: the Devil Bringer. It's this bad-ass gauntlet that you use to grab and throw enemies. They also have you use it like a grappling hook in the demo. Nice implementation. Usually I am loathe to play DMC games because they're too fucking hard. But 4 was a challenge without being overkill.

I also spent like, seriously five hours playing Portrait of Ruin. Not only is that game amazing, but there's way too much stuff to unlock and explore. Which is good because it will last for a while.

FGN is scheduled for next weekend at my place. Fucking be there. Exact day and time to be determined, place subject to change. Depends on how many people come.

Gonna see Spam-a-Lot Sunday. W00+y-w00+!

See how they bake their bread?

2008-01-20T15:34:00.000-05:00

On New Year's eve, Anne and Jessoe had a heart to heart with me about picking up girls. What the fuck?

On my way to work this past Thursday, I heard the following argument as a middle-aged man showed another a car which was for sale, or at least argued about it: "I know you don't want to spend a lot, asshole, but you can't get in it for free!"

Work has been OK. Still stressing about bounce-back. We have to pass CMA as well, which would be a first.

Been getting into Haloez more, got some more achievements, played online a little more. I placed a ticket with M$ because my Microsoft Points account was broken. They fixed it a little too late for Frag Doll Friday. Damn them.

Did however go to the bar with Jessoe, Nate, Bmo, Anne, Lindsay, and whoever Lindsay's boyfriend is. Note: It is helpful to the discussion if Lindsay wears higher-cut tops. I also got Bmo in trouble for mentioning WoW in front of Anne. My bad. We are, however, going to start up a server for the original UT. How fucking bad-ass is that?

The guy at Fuentes made fun of me for buying Bacardi Peach bitch drinks. Whatever dood, work at Fuentes for the rest of your fucking life.

Supposed to be playing Perfect Dark Zero with Matt, but he better hurry the fuck up because I have a Halo date later with Truth.

There was some 24hour bakery action involving Kochanski. A good time was had by all. Speaking of which, I am wondering if it is too early to look for a new place? I think I'd like to move to Brookline. Yeah...

Making progress in WoW. More so than my first char so I'm pretty happy, but I still don't want to put in the kind of time that will get me to a high level anytime soon.

I saw Cloverfield. I recommend it, but you'll probably hate it.

Went to Tim's birthday party. Yay Tim! It was quite awesome. Dickie and Matt dicked out on us. Oh well, more cake for me.

Been reading Harry Potter, the Dig, and playing Portrait of Ruin on my lovely DS. I got a free one from some kid at work, but a different kid wants to buy it, so I told the original owner we are going to sell it and split the loot. He agrees. W00+ w00+.

Still trying to register for a night class next semester. Yeah, I know.

Hrm?>

2008-01-08T09:59:00.000-05:00

Apparently someone broke into our building?

Haloez Go Home

2008-01-06T20:00:00.000-05:00

Time for an update.

XMas was pretty good. It was got presents and aren't afraid of anything. I got some thermal clothing that I can't use because it's too big, a tea kettle, vierhunderd dollar, and some other (Orange) cooking supplies.

There's some broad who likes me, but she lives far away so long time short, nothing is happen.

New years has also come and gone. It was pretty OK. I kind of got to sleep in but not really, then we had an overnight at work.

We're in bounceback now at work, so now even though the holidays are over, that means my job is getting more stressful by the minute anyway. Well, fuck you.

Now, to the subject at hand; Halo 3. Or, more specifically, Halo 3 online. XBox Live is retarded and Bungie couldn't facilitate a quality online experience if they were skull-fucked by it, over and over, for all eternity. XBL lags to shit anyway. There are little to no Halo 3 servers online, meaning that even though the game has an online population of sisty-THOUSAND, it can take upwards of ten minutes to find six fucking people to play with. SIX. When you do play, you are plagued by frequent and seemingly random drop-offs of your teammates or sometimes yourself from games, lag, and Bungie's patented 'Impossible Mode'. In Impossible Mode, the latency of everyone of the map will wildly go from red to green, all the while the other team will kill you with no effort, while your shorts do nothing. While you die in as little as one shot from any gun, they can withstand as many as 4498326401273640179245023497640329716023492364197236401923756012974602435761023957641230591786250974236501937465012973641-297`1239`86`5-2385283964`023958 shots from any weapon in the game. If you try to melee attack someone, your character will hit your opponent, then kill you and give the score to whomever you happened to be unfortunate enough to disgrace yourself with contemplating even thing of possibly attacking. If you stick someone with a grenade, the grenade will disappear, explode somewhere else nearby, and then you will instantly die. I'm assuming this has to do with the disgraceful condition of XBL and Bungie's astonishing incompetence, but either way, there is no game worth playing if you cannot win. Fuck you Halo 3.

If Only Women Were Bicycles

2007-12-12T22:17:00.000-05:00

My bike came back from the shop today. And it is fucking beautiful. I rode it home of course, and have forgotten how much less SUCK it is than being a ped or T-whore. Also, I forgot how ungodly hot it makes you feel, even in the dead of winter. Given, it was a warm day, but still...

drittepanzer Cancelled

2007-12-10T16:09:00.000-05:00

I have decided not to build a killer gaming rig. I wanted it originally to play the PC version of GoW on and that's it. But I came to this decision: If I build it for this one game that I can get for the Xbox360, then this will be me doing what I bought a 360 to keep myself from doing: Being forced to upgrade my machine using ridiculous amounts of moneys for pretty much one or two games.

I will perform a minor upgrade to zweitepanzer; A new video card when the open-source drivers for ATI come out, a new mouse, keyboard, and case. That is all. And hopefully it will be enough to be able to run StarCraft 2.

My decision is subject to change.

Brought my bike over to Back Bay Bikes. The guy at the counter was a douche bag and fuck him, but the mechanic explained that the major problem with my brake cables being sluggish, as well as my laggy shifting was because water had gotten into my shifter and brake lines and corroded the cables as well as leave a massive build-up of shit in there. So he's removing and replacing those, as well as re-taping my handlebars because he needs to take the tape off to get at the cables (I was going to do this myself to save money, but whatever), he told me to keep the back wheel because it's fine, and for now I will until I get enough money to buy Mavic wheels which were too much moneys but he is going to re-tread the back wheel with Armadillos just like the front one, and install non-quickrelease bolts on both wheels. The repairs are not much, but the parts will bring the total to over what I paid for it in the first place. But I got an awesome deal so whatever.

Also, been playing Dementium: The Ward. I have to say, it kicks ass. The controls are super-solid and it is pretty creepy even for a handheld.

Lastly: If you do not have a Blackberry Pearl, fucking GET ONE.

Dentist

2007-12-03T22:35:00.000-05:00

So, I had a cleaning today at the dentist. I noticed something very peculiar; I kind of enjoyed myself. The reasons are that A) I think I would enjoy any kind of cleaning, of myself, by someone who is not me. If someone were to wash my hair, win. And B) Although dentists incite fear because of whatever they do, if I go there and get cleaned and they find no problems, then that means that everything is OK and also, they will leave me alone for having a clean mouth. But yeah, aside from the gross sleet-like shit pouring out of the sky, a good time was had by all. And by 'all' I mean me.

MOAR CHAINSAWZZ

2007-11-29T20:27:00.001-05:00

WANT: Machine gun with chainsaw bayonet.

Slippers

2007-11-28T14:25:00.000-05:00

I need to get a pair of those slippers that look like dinosaur feet. NEED.

GOWWTF

2007-11-27T23:46:00.000-05:00

It's been a while since I've thrown a controller in anger. But brava GOW.. Brava. Burns, stfu.

I have to admit it's partially because the controller won't even stay synced with my console, but also GOW, although I had been warming up to it nicely, is just fucking retarded.

Let me set things up for you: I have a AI partner with me. He's retarded. I walk into a narrow room with the way I came conveniently blocked off to save bandwidth on geometry and texture rendering, etc. So there's a short scripted sequence where some stupid shit creatures come out of nowhere, and then we get attacked. My partner stands around and yells thing's like "Behind you!" and "They're everywhere!" and then proceed to fire zero shots. I've tried to lead him back into the empty room preceeding the area the creature come from to apply some bottle-necking tactics and eliminate our foes.. But the computer is too retarded to even follow me, never mind be tactical. The room before that, he stepped on a loose wooden board and it fell out from under him.. and then he remained, floating in the air. I leave and go to the next room and suddenly, WHAM, he's back and not suspended and defying the laws of physics. WTF mate? Then the enemies attack me, and if I manager to kill some they EXPLODE for some reason and kill me anyway. I'm sorry, I wasn't aware that exposing a biological, chemical, or other to emulsion made it glow and then explode. What you say? That's because it doesn't? Oh, cool... Wait no, WTF?

So Cliffy B., if you're reading this you can suck me off for two reasons: First, I'm glad you shafted every Xboxen owners on purpose just so your PC fanboys would still circle-jerk all over pictures of you in their moms basements, you little slut. We could have used that entire 100% more campaign you didn't bother to give us. Oh, and thanks for making it downloadable. Dipshit. Second, learn to design a fucking game. "I GET PAID 2 D0 THIZZ?? LOLZZZ OMG!"

It is my fondest wish that you become exposed to emulsion, grow volatile, start glowing, and then abruptly explode with enough force to kill a heavily armory infantryman.

drittepanzer: Details Revealed

2007-11-27T15:22:00.000-05:00

Here is the ideal spec for the drittepanzer:

Apple Wired Keyboard. This is ideal for it's small form-factor and lack of 'extra' buttons that go largely unused on an open OS. The keyboard does, however, still, retain some basic media controls such as stop, play, pause, etc, which is all I need.
Microsoft Sidewinder Laser Gaming Mouse. This mouse is wired, which is difficult to find these days, can plug directly into the USB port on the side of the Apple keyboard, and is very customizable for speed, weight, and extra buttons which can be used in a game, as opposed to useless application launchers on a keyboard. of course, it is also a gaming mouse, and since this machine is mostly built to game with as opposed to my Thinkpad which cannot, I think it's a good choice.
RAID 1. RAID 0+1 is preferable. However that's complicated and expensive. If four identical hard drives can be purchased at a low cost, I will do RAID 0+1. However, I like RAID 1's data-preservation scheme more so than the RAID 0 scheme which has failed me before. I need to look up more information about what RAID 1 does when a disk fails. Does it copy the files from one disk to the other automatically? Do I need to boot from a CD and copy the image to the new blank drive manually? I just don't know enough about this yet, just that RAID is ideal.
I want a new, faster video card. The dilemma is this though: Right now, Nvidia cards work better with closed-source drivers on Ubuntu. But in January, ATI will be releasing source for some of it's cards, which will lead to superior compatibility down the road. Which one do I choose? It's hard to tell. Developing new drivers for the cards may also take a lot of time, making Nvidia a much better choice in the short to medium run. But this all depends a great deal on when I get around to doing this as well.
New case. TBD.
New Monitor. Generic model Samsung 20-22" Possibly dual-monitor set-up. If so, I'd wait for a deal and buy two of the same monitor together and set them up side-by-side. Something like this would have to wait until the new apartment next year, I don't want to cram any more crap into this room. I could also use my TV as a monitor.
4GB RAM. Definitely Corsair.

The other alternative to this I've been considering is getting a 'gaming' laptop with some good specs and using that for games. It would come with windows, or I could format it and run Ubuntu, but it would be current and designed to runs most current games. Also, in the event that I wanted to play WoW with Corey, or DotA, or StarCraft 2 when that releases, I could do so without needing to mooch or go home. I could also buy a Windows key for my desktop and dual-boot or something.

13 Hours

2007-11-27T14:58:00.000-05:00

I just worked a 13-hour shift. Madness. I'm not going in tomorrow though, which my boss OK'd so... yeah. Tomorrow == holiday!

Trial

2007-11-25T15:40:00.000-05:00

So I got sick on an overnight Tuesday, and I've been sick since. I've had no time to rest, so.. I'm just sick still.

The day before Thanksgiving Dickie calls me. He's all "Hey, where are you? Matt's here." I'm like "I'm working to set up Black Friday very late, then I have holiday." Dickie: "Oh, OK. I guess you won't see him then." Later that night, my phone rings a total of seven times with calls from my dick friends wonder "where I am" and why I'm "not here". Um, because I'm setting up Black Friday and then having holiday? Matt: Sorry I missed you, I still love you. But seriously all, fuck off.

Black Friday has come and go. With me sick. It was actually kinda boring. I did some exciting things, but when I wasn't doing that, it was boring. The food got messed up too. I worked about... ten hours.

My boss showed me the calculator for how much I stand to make if I get a bonus, or even two bonuses. It's a shitload. W00+.

Still sick though. My merch team sucks, I come out of computers, barely getting it done by the time we open and have two other departments breathing down my neck because no one scanned them. So I do those departments too, lose my voice from having a cold, and just get really pissed off. I did however snag a copy of the Dig this morning on my way to work. Although the way to work sucked, the Dig makes me happy. So it's even I guess.

Also I've been rocking my Wehrmacht winter coat. Plus.

Other stuff: I think there's a water leak dripping onto the roof of my room; I played Gear of War finally, it sucked; Beautiful Katamari, however, is worth living for; I narrowly avoided a certain bus. I refuse to say more; The Wii zapper and Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles have come out for Wii; But first I have a paper to write.

Winter in Boston

2007-11-20T14:53:00.000-05:00

What the fuck? It are snow?

Stupid lady almost killed, good box-cutter lost

2007-11-20T05:02:00.000-05:00

So the fucking nub at work almost killed herself. She works for Mosaic, a third party BBY pays to come in and do 'things' for us sometimes. She tried to cut a live power cord (wall outlet power here) with an all-metal box-cutter. The blade was demolished, scorched black, a hole burned into it, and the blade is now spot-welded to the cutter. Lame.

Things I will love doing on the eve of the apocalypse:

2007-11-18T12:35:00.000-05:00

Smashing open vending machines and stealing piles of snacks.
Groping strangers.
Driving cars into things.
Firing a gun wildly into the air.
Setting whatever on fire.
Raiding the packy for booze, and then getting sick crunk.
Telling people to be careful and lecturing them on safety, knowing full well it no longer is important at all.
Activating as many signal flares as I can get my hands on.
Target practice with a flare gun.
Telling people off that I don't like.
Inciting panic.
Baking a pretty cake.
Cooking by the book, even with the knowledge that using a messy recipe no longer matters in the long run.
Cake.
Killing people over trivial things.
Loots delicious foods.

Etc, etc.

Rebuild?

2007-11-18T12:31:00.000-05:00

I think it's about time for Jato to build a new desktop. The mobo on this one is fine but I want: New graphics card, new case, new keyboard, new mouse, new monitor(s), and mayhap some for of raid. Although I'd settle for some secure network backup of my files. I don't have much. Music and some docs, everything else is online.

I'd like it to be able to run WoW on full settings, and run StarCraft 2 on full settings when that drops. Other games a plus, but not necessary. So I think the thing to do it just buy those new parts, which is a lot less then a new whole computer. Then if I want to upgrade later, I could just get a new mobo, processor, and some ram and be set. Maybe a new hard drive too, but considering how much stuff I don't store on here, I don't think I need to.

WTF Mate? No Heroes?

2007-11-13T21:26:00.000-05:00

Disc three of my Heroes Season 1 HD-DVD set is scratched... What the fuck. I have to exchange it tomorrow, which means I will not be enjoying Heroes tonight. LAME.

Things my name is misheard as when calling in a takeout order:

2007-11-11T20:49:00.000-05:00

Gerard
Jack
Jedid
Jessica
David
Derek

I'm sure there are more I'm leaving out. What the fuck?

This week in Jato

2007-11-06T20:29:00.000-05:00

Looks like a seven-day work week will be ending this Saturday. No wait.. With Sunday, which I have to go to, that makes eight. Eight day work week. w00+.

So last week the district RFT announced that we'd be having a crash course in functionality for all the merch sups in the district. They decided to use my store. And of course that means I have to make it look pretty for everyone else in the district to see. So began my hectic week.

Sunday: Ad set.
Monday: Prepare for Wednesday. Attack the merch area in the back and try to clean it. (The day of the course at my store)
Tuesday: Truck. Also found out that corporate is coming to look at our warehouse this Thursday and is checking how it looks. Continue to clean back merch area even more in light of impending visit.
Wednesday: Come in early and still clean back merch. Also tidy up after the truck for our visitors. Then the actual training, then I go right to class, then get home at like 21:00.
Thursday: Originally, I switched this day with Friday as my day off, but this is the day corporate comes. So come in anyway, then go to the leadership meeting that I forgot was today so I could have had to come in anyway.
Friday: Come in for Truck because no one is available Fridays and our day was switched.
Saturday: Come in for store meeting at six or seven AM.
Sunday: Ad set.
Monday: Take the fucking day off.

In other news, Eli Roth sucks at making movies. No srsly, he has to stop. My boss at work likes horror movies too, but he has a hard-on for Eli Roth, so he made me get "Cabin Fever", "Hostel", and "Hostel Part 2". "Cabin Fever" was the worst movie ever, "Hostel" was OK, but still terrible, and "Hostel Part 2" is so bad, even though "Cabin Fever" is the worst movie ever, I can watch that all the way through, but not "Hostel Part 2". Roth just does everything.. wrong... It's like he hasn't the slightest fucking idea what a movie is.

At some point I'll start putting pictures in these or something.

WUT?

2007-11-04T17:01:00.001-05:00

"Which one is the true cake?

You must choose. But choose wisely. For as the True cake will bring you life- the False cake will take it from you."

Courtesy of 4chan.

Breakdown? Right this way sir.

2007-11-04T16:51:00.000-05:00

So Watertown BBY is getting to me. I like a lot of the people I have met, but most seem to be indifferent or inept.

The managers are always kind of having me work on special projects for them, which is fine, but it's always grunt work, like moving products to different sections or cable management. Despite the fact that I have a backlog of planograms about 60 items long.

I have no real staff on my team. Everyone is a part-time niche in the team. I need at least one solid person for the holidays.

And aside from that, there's the fact that like every other store, they gear everything, meetings, contests, priorities, etc, towards the floor.

It's so aggravating. Today one of my guys left pieces of the merch kit everywhere. People where coming up to me and complaining about it. It's just like, I don't feel like I'm getting anything done. It's all piling up. And to boot, all the merch sups from the district are coming Wednesday for training. We have almost no people available for the new truck days, and I still haven't been able to test the rest of the security posts.

WTF mate?

For a Good Time, Maul

2007-11-04T16:15:00.000-05:00

Right now is a fucking great time to be a horror fan. And for once I don't mean the disappointing remakes, irrelevant sequels, and brand-new disasters like "30 Days of Night", a horrible adaptation of an excellent piece of graphic literature.

No my friends, the gaming scene is bursting with the unthinkable.

Right of the bat we've got "Manhunt 2" from Rockstar games, a game so (previously) violent it was given an AO rating and almost withheld from retailers altogether. That alone should be enough to get you to pick this one up.
Following on the DS is "Dementium: The Ward". Pegged as a "Doom 3" and "Silent Hill" hybrid, this game has a mixture of flashlight OR weapon wielding in dark environments, as well as other-worldly locals and other-worldly creatures to match. The one doubt that critics have is if this game can create enough of a mood to be scary. The only other notable attempt on a handheld was Capcom's remake of "Resident Evil", but this suffered from a refitting as more of a classic action game than a survival horror. But those who have voiced doubts about this game's ability to scare have been optimistic. Just play it in the dark, kthnx?
Coming out recently for the 360 is Clive Barker's gory "Jericho". Having more of a shooter atmosphere, the game still takes place in dark crypts crawling with hoards of undead monstrosities and demons. If you're looking for a chance to slash your way through droves of denizens with modern weaponry, this is it.
Out for a bit but still undiscovered by many is Bioshock. Set in a decaying underwater city built in the 50's, a mad-man's utopia of self-genetic-modification takes a turn for the worst, pitting you against the mangled and insane survivors of a riot that plunged Rapture (said city) into disrepair.
On the horizon, things will only get better. Right around the corner is Capcom's latest title in the "Resident Evil" franchise, "Umbrella Chronicles". For the Wii, the game plays like a light gun from the arcade, where players must shoot at the screen to behead the undead.
As if that weren't enough, "Resident Evil 5" is set to be released possibly as early as next year. Details are sketchy, but the gameplay is reminiscent of "Resident Evil 4", which was a smash hit. If hardcore fans will deal with another less survival-horror and more action-shooter title remains to be seen.
Of course, if the last development doesn't please you, then take heard in the fact that "Silent Hill 5" is heading for 360 and PS3 around the same time. Under the care of a new development studio, this new game will be a gamble, but Silent Hill could shoot to the top if they manage to remedy the poor combat and repetitive gameplay mechanics of older titles in the series.
Veteran series "Alone in the Dark" is getting a new game of the same title for 360 and PS3. Release schedule and really any details at all are short in supply, but as a pioneer of the survival-horror genre, hopefully they take a stab at some much needed re-inventing and just plain pants-pissing scariness.
On the distant horizon is a game that has gotten me as excited about horror games like I've only been pending the release of "Resident Evil 2". "Dead Space" is in development for the 360. Still mostly under wraps, the game is impressively described as a John Carpenter's "The Thing" meets "Resident Evil" and "Silent Hill" in space. Yeah that's right. Start getting giddy fanboys and keep your eyes peeled for any info on this one.

If you're still not satisfied, play the Flood levels of "Halo 3". They're not bad.

WUT

2007-11-04T00:06:00.000-04:00

"I work at a thrift store. I steal or overprice all the really good stuff before it gets to you."

Courtesy of 4chan.

October Companion Cube

2007-10-29T23:12:00.000-04:00

This year's June Celebration, Dubbed "October Companion Cube" went swimmingly. I went as Stephanie from Lazy Town. Although I never got the costume done 100%, it all went down well enough. The extra bits would not have helped the people who didn't know who I was get it. It took so damn long because I had to hand-stitch it. Lame.

Among other things there was me getting crunk, creepy old guys hitting on me (Dood, fuck off, I'm 16, kthnxbai) and having the next day after off to sleep it off.

Then I hung out with Fred, Dickie, Nate, and Burns.

Next year Brian promised to go as a DOOM HOUSE with me.

Oh, and the (wicked fake) police showed up. Score! Good old burns, right?

Burglary? More like JEWglary? Amirite?

2007-10-29T23:05:00.000-04:00

So it's about 5am on Sunday morning. As I walk to work through Allston, I notice this rising din. As I go down the street I notice a police cruiser parked by the curb down the street. I keep walking and the sound grows. It's a constant sound, a tinny, loud noise. Closer still the faint sound of a burglar alarm can be made out: A rapid constant bell, like in the old bank robber movies. When I get close to the police cruiser, I look up at the shop to see who has been victimized this day; It's a Jewish book store. (Real)

Authorities are describing the perpetrator as a short, heavy-set man with a Chaplinesque mustache. Aside from stealing every Tora, he apparently vandalized several novelty license plates by writing "DON'T" in between "I Brake" and "For Jews". (Fake)

meme

2007-10-17T22:43:00.000-04:00

"9000" is a product of Funimation faggotry.'

Recycling

2007-10-16T21:47:00.000-04:00

My bin was waiting for me when I got home from work today. Splendid. Also, 'Tranformers the Movie' came out today. For the first time ever, I am contemplating getting an HD DVD drive. I'd be able to watch 'Planet Earth' in HD too.

To Do Results:

2007-10-15T18:56:00.000-04:00

Check and check. With discount, that Pipettes CD was actually only 6 USD.
Although there was nothing even resembling a Stephanie dress, there was a pink short-hair wig, pink socks, and tights. So if I can make a dress, which seems like it would not be hard, I can easily get the other parts I need. I don't really need pink sneakers, but it would be a nice touch.
Absolute failure. For reference to Ubuntu users: Ubuntu cannot run SSH servers. So basically, I cannot sync any of my data except across the same hard drive, ever. That fucking sucks, and is pretty much useless.

Haven't gotten around to 4-6 yet. Lates.

To Do Today:

2007-10-15T11:38:00.000-04:00

Fill out my JOS and send that in. Pick up the Pipettes' CD while I'm there, which is currently 10 USD.
Head over to The Garment District and see of they have anything that could pass as a Stephanie costume.
Sync my Music on my laptop to desktop so I can listen without having both on and splitting my audio-in cable to my speakers. Possibly sync other folders, like school work and photos.
Set up my printer.
Bring my old plastic bags to Stop'n'Shop and recycle them.
Do some of the laundry I've been putting off.

BPW

2007-10-15T11:34:00.001-04:00

I just called Boston Public Works. They're bringing me a recycling bin so I can get rid of all the recyclable crap I've been saving. Score.

It's a Piece of Cake to Bake a Pretty Cake!

2007-10-14T05:07:00.000-04:00

OK, so first of all, FUCK YOU MBTA! Your weekend shuttle buses ALWAYS cause me to be late, no matter how early I leave. What the fuck? Work on the Orange Line every weekend ever? Cut that shit out.

Stayed up all night drunk and playing Portal (fucking awesome) and Smashies.

Also: Decided what I'm going to be for Halloween: Stephanie from Lazy Town. I may be coming down from alcohol, but I know what I said, and that's it.

In a related note, I decided to change my sleep schedule. Instead of sleeping at night, I'll sleep in the afternoon after work. Then I'll stay up, maybe nap briefly at like 1:00 or something, then go right on. Should help me keep on time, eh?

Oh, and you're pretty much looking at the new Merch Supervisor of Watertown. I'm getting a shitload of more moneys, courtesy of Shawn Willis, and just responsibility, underlings, and other cool treats. No more Saturdays!

Fuck Live Journal

2007-10-12T21:38:00.001-04:00

Blogger's getting my business now.