Good-bye Penn and Michael.
I'll miss you both.

Happy New Years. May 2007 be better (even though the Transformers movie is coming).

The probability of navigating an asteroid field is approxiametly 7350 to 1!

I now have access to all 6 of the saga in HD. All I need to do is figure out how to copy to disc and still retain the HD signal. I've never been so happy in my life. And I have them until well after Xmas.

And I thought they smelled bad... from the outside!

If you're wearing Freddy Krueger's glove:

A) people get the fuck out of your way when you're slicing your way through a crowd;

B) there's a small part of the female population that gets really turned on by a guy with knives for fingers, and I like that type of woman.

Death Jr comes out today and the reviews are in (these are the magazine reviews; haven't seen any online yet, except the GamePro one).

PSM Magazine - 8 out of 10
Game Informer - 8.25 out of 10
GamePro - 4 out of 5 (http://www.gamepro.com/sony/psp/games/reviews/85015.shtml)
Play Magazine - 9.5 out of 10

Looks like we made a pretty good game. It's getting higher ratings then the latest installment of Grand Theft Auto for the PSP.

Sweet.

I have decided...

When I sober up, at some point, I think I'm going to write an essay that explains why Friday the 13th VI: Jason Lives might be the greatest slasher flick of all time. It definitely beat Scream to the punch by a decade. Really, Scream = (the humor of Jason Lives) + (the pretentiousness of Wes Craven's New Nightmare). Don't get me wrong, I love Scream; I just wish that folk would give credit where it's due.

Most of you won't watch Audition. Most of you shouldn't. I just did. I have to admit, I wasn't sure I could handle it after all the stories I've heard. And I was very disturbed.

What disturbed me? The fact that I could handle it. Apparently, this movie really disgusts people. I just found it beautiful. I could only think of Dario Argento.

I mean, sure, a girl vomits into a bowl and feeds it to a man who is missing several appendages... and sure, there's a really fucked up scene involving piano wire ("This can cut through meat and bone...").

But it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Which means either A) the movie isn't that grisly, or B) there's something seriously wrong with me. Most of you wouldn't be able to handle it; I can guarantee it. But, if you've sat through Hostel or the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre, I highly recommend this movie. It certainly ranks with the latter as one of the truly great horror movies. It is so much better than Ringu (this may be anathema, but I actually like the American version more) and even better than Battle Royale. I will be purchasing this DVD and placing it between TCM and Suspiria.

God forbid I ever try to make a horror film. Actually, it wouldn't technically be a horror film... it'd just be 2 hours of intense gore.

After this, I think Cannibal Holocaust will be a cakewalk.

Happy Friday the 13th!

http://imdb.com/name/nm2300266/

I'm gonna go hang out with Steve and George and Francis.. and Martin.. and Eliza Dushku. See you losers later. I'm FAMOUS!!!!!!

It's the Knight Rider movie trailer/music video! And it's got the Hoff! Amazing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ibEdNCLyirE

Fuck psychics.

Fucking charlatans. I loathe them with every fiber of my being. They're frauds and shysters. They are the lowest form of humanity, save radio advertising execs.

Example: http://www.twopercentco.com/rants/archives/2006/08/sylvia_browne_o_1.html

Revolting.

So, I've been drinking.... I mean, thinking.

I may try my hand at a little home-brewing. Now, I know a couple of you out there have done it, so I wanted to ask where I should begin. I've seen little kits at places like Fry's or whatever, but it seems like that's the gimpy way to start. Any advice? I want to make a hefeweizen at some point, but I know I need to start out simple; but what constitutes simple? I know a lot about beer consumption, but just not enough about making it. I've made my own wine, so I understand some of the basics of frementation, just not enough.

Ooo... Just looked at the DragonCon page again. Many guests that I must meet.

James Callis - Dr. Baltar.
Aaron Douglas - Tyrol


And, the most important of all.... the one that I'll have to bring my resume when I meet him.. one of the most brilliant game designers of all time, a personal hero of mine, the man behind Planescape: Torment, KotOR II, and many other games... Chris Avellone. I applied to Obsidian several times because I must work with him. At least now I'll get to meet him. I'd best be on my A game.

Salient portion highlighted
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Nude people in town center could prompt ban
August 21, 2006

BRATTLEBORO, Vt. --Complaints about young people who spend time in downtown naked have prompted the Select Board to explore an anti-nudity ordinance.

"A parking lot is not a strip club. It's a parking lot," resident Theresa Toney told the Select Board last week. She said she has seen repeated instances of naked people hanging out downtown.

"This is a problem. What about children seeing this?" Toney asked.

Vermont has no law against nudity, though some cities and towns ban it by ordinance.

News that the Select Board had asked Town Attorney Robert Fisher to research a possible local ordinance drew a protest of sorts Friday, as five young men gathered downtown and stripped their clothes off in protest.

"There's no real valid way to justify the banning of nakedness," said one of the men, Adhi Palar, between licks on his clarinet. "Nakedness does not violate any human rights whatsoever."

With no law to enforce, Police Chief John Martin was taking a laid-back approach.

"What's the harm?" Martin asked. "It's a problem to the extent that it bothers people, but we've always had it here."

"We get calls and we check out what's going on. Even though there's often no criminal violation, we want to be sure there isn't a confrontation. Or that someone is not emotionally disturbed."

A criminal charge might result if the nudity is sexual in nature, with the purpose of "gratification or the intent of arousing oneself or another," Martin said.

Nudity has put the town in the headlines before. A group of women held "Breast Fest" in Brattleboro in the early 1990s, marching down Main Street with no clothing above the waist.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

And they say band geeks don't get any action.

So, I just watched V for Vendetta. It was a movie I didn't want to watch. The novel is so amazing that I couldn't imagine any way it could be anything other than literature. The only version that I would accept would be one by the BBC (the stereotypical BBC that brought us the Brother Cadfael flicks, Horatio Hornblower, and many other brilliant pieces of TV literature). The novel was such a true touchstone of my nascent political thoughts when I first read it that I couldn't imagine them being true to it. I mean, most don't understand what anarchism is truly about, at least the individualistic anarchism discussed in the novel. It very much made me the anarcho-libertarian I am today.

So, now on to the review. By the way, there are HUGE spoilers following. There's no way I could talk about the flick without spoiling it, so if you hate that sort of shit, then stop reading.

Cons:
* They made V human. He falls in love with Evey. He falters in his mission. It struck me that, in so many movies and other media, we try to make "love" be everything. V isn't a person; he's an idea. He even says so in the movie. Evey falls in love with him, but I felt it undercut the theme of the movie when V returned that love. He should be nothing more than the idea. We always have to create characters that are "human," with faults like ours and desires like ours. But sometimes that isn't what's necessary.
* The character of Evey gets lost in the last act. She is the character we identify with, the one we follow into V's world. She finds comfort in the status quo, much as we always do. And it is at a critical point in the story thematically that we lose touch with her, especially after what she goes through. She just kind of goes away for a little while while we get fed exposition with "JFK" music behind it.
* V was too human. I'm repeating myself, but this is a huge detriment to the movie. He never cooked breakfast for her.
* Natalie Portman gave Evey too much intelligence.
* The removal of racism. There was so much about how the government of this fictional world was against homosexuality and non-christians, but they left out the hatred of that government towards race, an issue dealt with in the novel. When Evey first unmasks V, she sees him as a black man, an image which will always stick with me. And, really, this theme is in the movie. If you've seen it, try to recall one single scene with a black person in it. I can, but that black person was a homosexual. I only wish they had been blatant enough to place that theme back and remind us that hatred based on something as banal as the color of skin still exists.
* It's good to know that, when the US falls and other countries have been taken over by tyrannic regimes, Dell will still go on (yes, this should be read in a very facetious tone).


Pros:
* Hugh Jackman is perfect as V.
* Stephen Rea is even more perfect as Inspector Finch. He played the exact same character he played in Citizen X, one of the greatest serial killer movies ever made.
* The casting was absolutely perfect across the board. I just point out the two that caught my eye. Natalie Portman was, of course, brilliant, especially in that costume she wore in the church that made me feel oh-so-perverted.
* It was honest to the themes of the novel. Of course, I think that the reason the movie affected me so deeply was due to the novel. It did include all of the themes from the novel, but some of those that I felt most important it only touched on. Yet, it touched on them by recreating scenes directly from the novel. I've little doubt that those who didn't read the novel missed them, but those themes really struck home for me.
* The incarceration of Evey was dead on. I couldn't believe they included it in the movie. I mean, it turns the audience against the protagonist, but it is vital to the theme of the novel.
* More importantly, it had the toilet paper biography nearly word-for-word. That part of the novel was the first comic book that ever caused tears to fill my eyes. I was raised in a very fundamentalist family, yet I was always taught to accept people for who they were, regardless of the sins they supposedly committed. Reading that issue tore me up. And watching it did the same thing. I'm not ashamed to admit that I actually cried. And that's when the movie won me over.
* The "unmasking" of V. When Evey removes his mask in the novel, she first sees a black man. Then she sees her father. Every time she thinks of lifting the mask, she sees someone else. The movie does this brilliantly. There was no way they could have done it the same way as in the comic book due to media constrictions, yet (and perhaps because I knew the novel so well) when Evey told Finch who V was... another tear-jerking moment. It was perfect.
* It is a movie about British history and unabashedly so. Who amongst us understands the importance of Guy Fawkes? They could have easily made V pattern himself after Thomas Jefferson and placed the movie in America, but it wouldn't have been the same. Especially since Jefferson has been immorally stolen by the religious right. Then again.. maybe this is a strike against the movie.
* The movie put me in a mood. In fact, I'm watching it again right now, only a couple of hours after watching it for the first time. It made me think. It affected me deeply.
* The themes - People should not be afraid of their governments; governments should be afraid of their people. Ideas are bulletproof. Would you want to know if your government were responsible for nearly 100,000 of its own citizens? And, most important of all, artists tell lies to tell the truth, while politicians tell the truch in order to tell lies.

I'm not going to recommend this movie to anyone. But I utterly loved it. It is a movie about important ideas. But I could understand those who hate it so long as they think about what the movie says.

Woo! More pictures to infect the world with. And this time, some of them are from my levels. There's also a new video, but I wouldn't waste time watching it. It's about 2 minutes of a guy running around in a circle and then missing easy jumps. I hope it isn't used in any TV adverts.

So, without further ado:

http://psp.gamespy.com

It should still be on the front page. If it isn't, try here:

http://media.psp.gamespy.com/media/827/827112/imgs_1.html

Now, if we could only finish the damn thing.

And now for something important...

Jack Warden died today. For those of you who remember Heaven Can Wait, you know the loss that was felt today. And, if you don't remember that, we have lost another significant part of the Great Muppet Capper.

I am no longer Crazy Like a Fox.

Sadness now....

Oh, and I'm watching the perfect birthday movie for me... Dazed and Confused. Funny how it is the "30th Anniversary Edition" yet I lived through nearly every scenario in it, save anything that deals with the loss of virginity.

And Wiley Wiggins is a dipshit hack.

Looking for that last minute birthday present for yours truly? Here you go:

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

Biel Auctions Date with Herself

Generous Hollywood beauty Jessica Biel is offering herself as a date to help a teenager who lost a leg in a car accident. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre star, who was voted 'Sexiest Woman Alive' by Esquire magazine last year, hopes the gesture will raise funds for the family of 18-year-old Molly Bloom who was run over by a stretch limousine in May. Dmitri Lee Natali, a friend of Bloom, says, "Come on, it's Jessica Biel. What guy wouldn't want to win a date with her?" Bloom is recuperating at a children's hospital in Denver, Usa while the limousine driver faces a charge of careless driving resulting in serious bodily injury.

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

I really, really want that leg.

(Click here to post your own answers for this meme.)

✓ I miss somebody right now.	✓ I don't watch much TV these days.  (Just my shows: Lost, Bullshit, and Battlestar Galactica.)	✓ I own lots of books.
✓ I wear glasses or contact lenses.	✓ I love to play video games.  (Kinda have to, you know?)	✓ I've tried marijuana.  (Boring.)
✓ I've watched porn movies.  (I'm a guy.)	× I have been the psycho-ex in a past relationship.	✓ I believe honesty is usually the best policy.  (Stress on "usually.")
✓ I curse sometimes.  (Fuck yeah, I do, cunt piss shit ass cock merkin.)	✓ I have changed a lot mentally over the last year.	× I carry my knife/razor everywhere with me.

( it goes on... )

So, I thought this was kind of funny...

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

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - A U.S. district court judge on Monday dismissed a lawsuit brought by a California atheist against the U.S. government for its use of the phrase "In God We Trust" on its coins and currency.

Michael Newdow, the Sacramento, California lawyer and doctor who had previously launched a court challenge on behalf of his daughter over the phrase "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance said in schools, had argued that "In God We Trust" on monetary instruments violates his rights.

Newdow claimed that by using coins and currency bearing the phrase, he is forced to carry religious dogma, proselytise and evangelise for monotheism.

Judge Frank Damrell of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California held in his opinion that "In God We Trust" is secular in nature and use, and its appearance on coins and currency does not show government coercion on behalf of monotheism.

Newdow told Reuters he would appeal to the San Francisco-based U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, which ruled in his favour in his "under God" lawsuit, a decision later overruled by the U.S. Supreme Court, which found Newdow could sue not on behalf of his daughter because he lacked custody.

"The case is really straightforward. The history is overwhelmingly on my side," Newdow said.

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

You know.. if I were a christian, I'd actually be insulted.

Last night, I lost a family member. He was small, black, kinda blockish... he was affectionately known as PS2.

I'll never forget the last night we had together. I had just come back from work, tired, frazzled, and I sought solace in his oft-schizophrenic charms. He could be bright and cheery at one moment, dark and violent in the next.

We played God of War. I was doing research; God of War has incredible level design and some of the best enemy pacing I've ever seen (an area I'm currently focused on at work). We had fought our way to the very end, sometimes working together, but growing increasingly at odds. PS2 had grown old; he was one of the first off the assembly-line back in aught zero. I knew something was wrong with him, but I didn't want to admit it to myself.

There we were, at the end of all things, facing the god Ares, inflicting retribution on him. I had been fighting him for nearly an hour - he possessed one attack that was, in a word, bullshit. Finally, I had him against the ropes. I had just begun tapping the O button to deliver the final combo and thusly take my rightful place on Mount Olympus when disaster struck. I heard a click and the game froze. After a smoke break necessary to cool down, I restarted the PS2 only to be greeted by more clicking and an inability to read discs.

And so I write this eulogy. I will never forget those special moments we shared together, me laughing, him... spinning. I little piece of me died last night and remained so until today when I went to Best Buy and purchased another one.

Good night, sweet console, and may flights of Marios guide you to your rest.

R.I.P. Playstation 2
Nov. '00 - May '06