Thursday notes (Who is this guy edition)
- When a long absence occurs from something that you really enjoy, it's always great to have some epic excuse or some really amazing timeline of events that have happened that have prevented you from being able to take on that task. Alas, that's not the case for me. Not to say that I haven't had some very fun activities in the last few weeks, but I've just basically been incredibly busy at work. When I'm not at work, I'm at home trying to just relax before I have to go back to work again. Rinse. Repeat.
So, here's a brief summary to get all caught up with my life for the last few weeks (not in any particular time based order.)
1. Went to the Packers/Vikings playoff game at Lambeau and had an amazing time. I hadn't ever been to a NFL playoff game before and it did not disappoint, and if you add to the fact that it was a night game, it just became even more incredible. There was a tension at the tailgate and at the game that were completely foreign to me. Everyone knew it could be the last game of the year and people were tending not to celebrate as much as they would before a normal game, but my friends and myself did our best to make sure that people enjoyed the heck out of it. Plus it was awesome to beat the Vikings (even if Joe Webb was their QB.)
2. Had a great New Years Eve thanks to some terrific friends who brought Cards Against Humanity as a game for the group to play. If you have friends that are not easily offended, it can be an amazing night of laughter playing that game. It can be printed out for free, but my wife and I are planning on picking up the official version soon. It's worth well more than the $25 that it costs based on the night of entertainment that we got out of it.
3. Went Ice Fishing this past weekend and had a great bit of luck with that as well. Had 30 to 40 tip-ups during the day and had at least 20 fish on the ice. Ice Fishing is a great deal more fun when you're actually catching stuff. Otherwise it's just getting drunk on a lake... which isn't all that bad of a concept either.
4. Saw two movies up for Best Picture. Django Unchained and Silver Linings Playbook. Both were very good, but Silver Linings Playbook was an absolutely terrific story that was remarkably well acted. Tremendous.
Django on the other hand is a very good film using the slavery as a basis for a revenge film. It's incredibly graphic, but the story and the subtext is what really keeps me thinking about it. I don't believe for one second that it will win best picture, but it clearly deserved to be nominated.
5. Another that I saw (and can't believe that I didn't mention when I saw it,) which I enjoyed a tremendous amount as Seven Psychopaths. If you saw En Bruges, you need to see this movie. Another violent film, but incredibly funny at times as well. Well worth your time to track it down on DVD/Blu-Ray when it comes out next week.
Those are the major activities... although minor ones may be referenced from time to time in the future.
Back to the blogging...
- Why does anyone care about the Manti Te'o story? A football player lied about an imaginary relationship for media attention. Move on...
Seriously, a girl commited suicide after reporting being raped by Notre Dame football players and that gets zero attention. I wish the media would actually pick the stories that need to be told, not the ones like this pathetic dreck.
- Lance Armstrong is a huge liar and a major league d-bag for suing people in the past when they were telling the truth about what was going on in relation to his doping. If he were the great guy that some people are clinging to, he would pay restitution to the people who's lives he made hell for the last 10 years.
- We get another year of MLB2K? Who saw that coming? I have actually enjoyed that game more than the Show from time to time, as I just enjoy the pitching interface more than what Sony is doing. I'll be anxious to know what they've been doing with the development time, but I'm guessing it'll be a roster update and some gameplay tweaks.
- If anyone nationally didn't know it before, they should know now that Wisconsin elected a moron to senator in 2010. Replacing Russ Feingold with Ron Johnson will go down as one of the worst election mistakes this state has made. Just watch any of the "questions" that he has been asking Secretary of State Clinton or John Kerry and you'll see that he is clearly in over his head.
- Glad that hockey is back and that DirecTV has NHL Center Ice for free until the 31st. I've been watching a ton of games, and while it is clear that they are a bit rusty... it's just awesome to see NHL hockey again.
- Back to your regularly schedule programming... and lots more work for me.
Wednesday notes
- Hope everyone had a great New Years.
We celebrated it with a few friends at our house by letting the kids watch movies in the theater while the grown-ups played Cards against Humanity. Personally, I think the grown-ups got the better end of that deal as the game is incredibly fun when played with the right people. I highly recommend it to anyone having a get together, as I can't recall the last time that I laughed that hard.
- Another part of my theater project has been completed as I have moved my gaming PC into my theater closet and have picked up a backlit gaming keyboard to start playing some games in there.
The first thing that caught me off guard was how great the audio for some games sound. I've always been listening to them on smaller speakers or via headphones and I was amazed how great (and loud) some of them could be. I think I'm really going to enjoy playing PC games on the big screen.
- Also, I got a chance to watch Looper last night and I have to say that I was really impressed with it. I had a few issues with a couple minor plot points, but overall I can easily recommend the film to any sci-fi fan.
- Another gaming note, I played a bit of Persona 4 Golden for the Vita over the holiday weekend and while I have spent a good bit of time with it, there is just so much there that I'm confused about (relationships effecting Persona's, finding a good balance to your schedule outside of school time, etc.) that I just don't know if I'll stick with it for all that long. Maybe I'll find a good balance as I keep going, but right now I'm confused about the aspects outside of the battle system (which I really dig.)
- It's hard to say that it was surprising that the Badgers came up just short yesterday against Stanford in the Rose Bowl. The Badgers didn't lose a single game by more than 7 points all season, and you just had that feeling that it was going to come down to the end after the first quarter. Also, it wasn't really stunning that Phillips last pass was picked off. He had been hitting linemen in the head with passes for a good part of the game (which you have to give Stanford's D-Line credit for... they were in his passing lanes all day.)
As a person who is becoming more of a casual football fan, it was an enjoyable game to watch, which is what I was hoping for.
- I'm really curious as to what Intel's pricing model for this will turn out, or how they will even pull it off, but something that would allow me to cut my cable channels down to the 4 or 5 things that I actually want to watch would be incredible.
- Lastly, I hope Dan is feeling better. Never want to hear of issues like he is having.
Monday notes
- Not sure what it is, but the games that seem to be taking up the majority of my time lately are less expensive ones, rather than the full retail titles that I have with the game.
In the last week I've dedicated hours to Motorstorm RC on the Vita, along with Retro City Rampage today (thank you cross save feature, Jet Set Radio on the Vita and FTL on the PC.
FTL has become a very sad addiction for me at this point as I continue to play the game over and over... and yet cannot win it. Such is life.
- Went out and saw the Hobbit last Friday and really enjoyed HFR 3D. I did think that the movie was a bit longer than it should have been, but I definitely enjoyed it and look forward to the next film in the trilogy.
- Happy holidays, Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Merry Festivus, etc.
Monday notes
- My wife and I got a chance to watch Ted last week and can safely say that if you're a Family Guy fan, that movie will be right up your alley. There were a few moments where I had to pause it just to catch my breath from laughing, but then there were 5 to 10 minute stretches where nothing funny seemed even remotely possible. Worth a rental, I would say.
- Going to see The Hobbit at some point this week. Just trying to lock down some schedules with friends to determine when it will work for all involved.
- Over the weekend, I was up in Rochester, MN (My wife's father is waiting to get a heart transplant at the Mayo Clinic) and had a chance to get in a bit more time on the Vita.
I have to say that the difficulty on Hot Shots is crazy. I don't know what they were thinking when it came to this version, but they have really made the game a crap ton tougher than all of the previous versions have been. This is especially true if you're going for any of the Crown challenges. Still, having fun even if I'm frustrated by it.
I also started playing Gravity Rush over the past week and it has been a pretty impressive game thus far (especially so, considering it's included free in the Playstation Plus bundle.) The controls are taking me a bit to get adjusted to, but I've found myself thinking about the game after I'm done playing and coming up with new strategies to tackle some of the time based challenges that you unlock throughout your play through on the game. I do like it when I'm playing a game mentally even after I'm done playing with the system. Seems like a "mental value" at least at that point.
- Lastly, I saw over on Den of Geek that the IT Crowd might have their wrap up episode in the summer of next year. That really gives me something to look forward to for next year.
Tuesday notes
- Not sure why I neglected to mention it, but the game that I'm enjoying most out of the Playstation Plus (free) games for the Vita is Mutant Blobs Attack. It's a terrific combination of platforming and Katamari style gameplay. If you are a PS Plus subscriber (and really everyone should be) you definitely need to get it on your Vita.
The one thing that I definitely need is a much bigger memory card for the system though. 4GB isn't going to cut it.
- Sony announced today that the are the number one (non-pc) device used for Netflix in the U.S. today.
This got me to thinking about Xbox Live and I'm trying to remember the last time where I feel like I got any value out of that service from Microsoft. According to my account, I'm a 6 year subscriber to the service, and I'm pretty sure that it's the last one. The ESPN app hasn't provided live access to any event that I wanted to watch in a long time, The UFC app was fun while it was in beta, but the fact remains that I haven't played an online game with anyone in probably a year or more.
Just curious as to if there are others of you out there that still get a good value from Xbox Live. Not being a Halo or Call of Duty player, I'm just not seeing the value any more.
- I see now that The Hobbit will be playing in HFR 3D at a local theater here in the Madison area beginning next week. Although the price is $16 to see it in that format (in the evening.) Damn, even the matinee's are $11 for a 3D 48 FPS film. I have to admit, I'm just too damn curious not to want to go out and see it that way.
- I have two reviews that I will be posting during the week. One being miCoach for the Xbox 360 and the other is for ESPN Sports Connection for the WiiU. They should both be done by the end of the week.
Thursday notes
- Work continues to be an adventure for me, as we have lost a few employees and as a result, I have to put in more time there to fill in on things I haven't done in the past. Good to have a job and have plenty to do, but it does limit a lot of time for other things.
- Still working through Assassin's Creed II and feel that I should have it finished up in the next week or so, which is good considering all of the deals coming around for Black Friday. XCom for $25 at Walmart? That's what I call a crazy quick price drop even for Black Friday.
- In the election, I have to say that I'm proud to live in the state that elected the first openly gay senator.
Another thing that I was happy to see was the fact that $400 million dollars from Super PAC's and such didn't really sway the elections that they spent most of that money on. The next thing we need is a constitutional amendment overturning the Citizen's United Supreme Court decision. Other than people that work for advertising agencies and TV stati0ns, don't know many people that would be opposed to that.
- In movies, I had a chance to watch the Amazing Spiderman and really enjoyed it. I liked the story of this version of Spiderman a good deal more than the Tobey Maguire version.
Also, I went and saw Cloud Atlas last Sunday. If you've read the book, do yourself a favor and avoid the film.
Part of the beauty of the book was how the story was told. Telling the first half of each individual story, then going to the next character and hearing their story and seeing how they found out about the character's story before was handled amazingly well. Then, going backward from the final story in the timeline and finding out how each of the previous stories ended, was wonderful.
The way that the movie handled it was awkward and the cuts back and forth from one story to the next was overly chaotic. Also, there was no need to have each actor play 3 or 4 parts. The book let you kn0w that some of the people were connected in one way or another, but you didn't have to believe that they were a version of the same person. Every time I saw Hugo Weaving's female nurse character come on screen, I cringed.
I know that it's a cliche to say that books are always better than movies, but I still can't believe how badly they pulled this one off. I almost walked out... it was that poorly done. Ugh.
- Like Craig said yesterday, let us know if you sign up for iRacing. Could be fun to have a group of us together in that from the start.
- Lastly, I picked up MLB 12 from Gamefly for $9 during a sale last week. 3D effects for the game (when played on my Playstation 3D monitor) are pretty understated. It doesn't seem to add all that much depth to the game, but considering I have not played it without the 3D turned on, it's hard to know how "flat" it looks normally.
One thing that I can say is that I suck at hitting. This time out I tried to make a power hitting 3rd baseman. After 20 some games, I have 1 home run and no walks. It's like they really put me into the game.
Disney buys Lucasarts. Episode VII of Star Wars to be released in 2015.
Dogs and cats... living together... mass hysteria.
Friday notes (who is this guy edition?)
Well, hello there...
I could regale you with all sorts of stories about all of the things that have been going on in my life, but it's basically been a combination of playing a few games, spending time with family, and hanging out with friends. All of the following have just made me really busy and the site has suffered as a result of it. My bad.
- In gaming, I finished my first playthrough of Borderlands 2, which I quite enjoyed.
I haven't picked up the season pass for the expansions yet, but I will probably dive into that after I'm done with the next game that is eating up all of my time... Assassin's Creed II.
No idea why I waited this long to dive into the game, although it probably had something to do with the 'Blah' experience that I had with the first game, but I've totally fallen in love with the collect-a-thon that the game is. I'm buying every art map to find every chest in a city. I'm looking for every one of the 100 missing feathers in the game. I'm buying paintings to make my palace look better. I just paid to put a brothel in my town to update it's value (because, frankly who wouldn't put a brothel in a town if they had the option.) It's crazy, but I'm wasting so much time on this other stuff that I'm not really paying much attention to the story of who killed who and dealing with why Ezio and his family are assassin's.
I have no idea if I'll actually try and complete all of the little sub collections that the game has in store for me, but at this point they are comforting little tasks to do at the end of a day and I'm enjoying the search for them.
- Last night there was an NFL game and had no idea who took part in it until this morning. That was very comforting to me for some reason.
- The major interest that I have in sports, at the moment, is to hope that the Cardinals don't win the World Series. (I'm still pissed at the Nats for blowing that game last week. Stupid Nationals.) I like the thought of Verlander facing them at least 2 times with the hope that they get crushed and Prince wins a World Series.
- In movies, I watched Avengers, Prometheus and Cabin in the Woods last week.
Prometheus disappointed me on a few levels. I really didn't like how it tied some of the story elements together... that and the fact that I really just never found it at all scary. The 3D effects were pretty damn good though. I have to give Ridley Scott credit for really making good use of the technology there.
Cabin in the Woods? Damn, that was a fun ride. I really don't care for horror films, but I loved how Whedon took all of the horror film conventions and turned them around. Definitely a fun film.
Avengers? That was a hell of a good film as well. My only complaint was that it was pretty damn long. I thought that there was a good deal of character development that could have been slimmed down and wouldn't have been missed.
- Lastly, politics...
This will come as a shock, but at this point, I'm not even certain who I will be voting for in the presidential election. I'm so turned off by both candidates at this point. (Primarily I'm looking at the Green Party and Justice Party.)
You will never be able to get me to understand why we have a country that is having very large financial difficulties and at the same time, we have two political parties begging those same people for all of their spare money. 1 billion dollars will be spent on the presidential race, and we will still have one of two candidates that are totally beholden to corporate interests, and not those of the people they say that they are running for.
The whole process just makes me ill at this point.
Tuesday notes
- I think Dan misunderstood my post for anger. Honestly, within seconds of watching the end of the game, I went back to playing Borderlands 2.
The NFL to me has little interest other than the fact that it is a simulation engine for my fantasy teams.
The owners and Roger Goodell have little to no interest in integrity, player safety, or hell even having the correct rules enforced at this point.
I will admit that in the past, I spent way too much time and wasted way too much emotion on the outcome of sporting events, and now I'm trying to distance myself from that. The past few weeks where I have not cheered for a good play or been upset by a bad one have been terrific to this point and I'm not looking to go back.
Every time that I hear my daughters say, "The Packers are losing, and it's ok if they do," it gives me a good feeling to know that they might not be as fanatical as I used to be about events that have so little impact on us as people.
One thing is for certain though, if you can get Scott Walker to tweet a pro-union position... something is really wrong.
- Going to pick up my copy of the Avengers (3D version is $19.99 at Target) today. I would be happy if Joss Whedon made every movie for the rest of time. Just love the way that he writes and directs.
Edit: Target doesn't have the copy for $19.99 that they put in their ad, so they are pricing the 3D copy to match that price point. It's a win for everyone.
- And now the Brewers have fallen 3.5 games back. Again, wasn't expecting them to pull off a run to win the Wild Card, but it has been great to see really good baseball again. Also, it really bodes well for next year as the young players really do look like they are ready for competing in the big leagues.
- As I said before Borderlands 2 has taken up pretty much all of my gaming time. 'Ass pony says "Hi."'
Tuesday notes
- People know that the Brewers season is done. They know that they're not going to make the playoffs, and the odds sites pretty much make it easy to see how they're not going to make the wild card this year, but it sure has been fun to see the team play well for the last 20 games (16-4 in that span.)
Again, I know that they won't make the playoffs, but it's fun to watch.
- As far as football went this weekend, I missed the entire Badgers game and slept through the Packers game.
Like I commented last week, football really hasn't been all that big of an interest to me this year. I might watch some of the games, but outside of fantasy football interest, I'm not really drawn to watching the games.
People might say it's because the teams lost that I'm not really interested, and that's fine, but I just can't seem to find the passion for the game right now.
- Last night I watched, The Raid: Redemption and I was stunned by the amount of action that they packed into a 1 hour and 40 minute movie.
It was mind-blowing in its violence, but quite an incredible action film. Well worth your time if you like martial-arts films.
- If you're a fan of Wing Commander or Freespace, check out this new site by Chris Roberts. Looks like he might be trying to make a new space combat game in the future. Color me giddy about that prospect of that.
Monday notes (I’m back)
Man, you take a look at the post log and see that you haven't posted in far too long. No real explanation for it, just been doing a lot of things at home and such. Let's try and catch up.
- Now that the NCAA has handed down it's penalties to Penn State, it's clear to see that nothing like this could or would ever happen again. I'm sure the loss of money and bowl bids will make sure that no university will ever put their own prestige and pride ahead of the need to do the right thing again. Glad that's all done.
- One thing that Dan missed with his post about the EA exclusivity lawsuit was the fact that EA cannot negotiate an exclusive deal with the NCAA for the next 5 years.
I don't think it will matter as the only one with the means to make any NCAA games wouldn't probably touch it (with the exception of 2K perhaps wanting to make a downloadable NCAA tournament type game.)
- On last Thursday, I was able to see the Dark Knight Rises, and while I thought it was a decent film, I just didn't think it was as good as the first two movies of this newest Batman trilogy.
After seeing the movie, I went back to my old comic collection and read through the Knightfall series that introduced Bane. Reading through the storyline, this is probably why I wasn't as impressed with the movie, as I just liked what they did with Bane's character as well as how they showed Batman struggling with the stress of dealing with keeping Gotham safe. It just seemed to be a much better explanation of how Bane was able to best Batman than how it was handled in the film.
I have a bunch of spoiler type questions to ask people if they've seen the film, so if you'd like to have that conversation, just email me.
- Another film that I saw over my hiatus was 'In Time' with Justin Timberlake. I don't know how the film got such negative reviews, but I loved the concept of people needing to pay for everything in their lives by sacrificing their future. It wasn't a perfect film by any means, but it was definitely enjoyable.
- 2 weeks ago, the Brewers looked like they had a chance to turn things around with a 9 game stretch against their closest NL Central foes, but after being swept by the Reds this weekend, they went 4-5 in that stretch and are now 10 1/2 games out of the lead for the division. Their only real option right now is to trade anyone who isn't Gallardo, Braun, or Lucroy and start building for '13 and '14. Rumor has it that they offered Greinke $110 million+ over 5 years and he turned it down... which means he really didn't want to stay in Milwaukee all that badly, so after his start on Tuesday (if all goes well... hell even if it doesn't) I expect to see him dealt.
After last year when just about everything went right with the team, just about everything has gone wrong this year. The bullpen has been a disaster and they have never been able to overcome the loss of their starting SS, 1st baseman, and left handed starting pitcher.
There will be a ton of people talking about how the Cards were able to come back from a huge deficit late in the year, but that is not this Brewers team. They just don't have the tools to make that deep run and they don't have the players to trade at lower levels that they could use to acquire the players that they need now to make that run.
- In gaming.... I started to mess around with NCAA Football 13 and found that it deals with so damn many of the issues that we've seen for the past few years. The CPU play calling is still horrendous and it just appears that they either have no idea how to fix the issues, or they just don't care to even want to try. When you're seeing the CPU trying to call a 4 WR deep route from the 5 yard line repeatedly, it just becomes too damn frustrating.
I haven't delved into the franchise mode largely because... well... I'm having a hard time trying to muster up interest in trying it. I keep expecting that they are going to try and do things right, but after this many years, I can't actually believe that they will. I guess I"m becoming far too jaded to play their games. Maybe time will change that, but right now, I just can't get interested in it.
- That should be enough for now. Have a great week everyone.
Monday notes
Credit where credit is due, Dan was right on about the PS3 3D Display. It's a pretty sweet display. I picked one up on Friday and then proceeded to stay up until 1:30 in the morning watching movies and playing games on it.
Here are some of the details.
- It can be configured to be used as a PC 3D monitor via Nvidia's 3DTV Play software. I played around with Diablo III and found that while it did work, there were some things where it took a lot of mental adjusting to get the "feel" of playing a game like that in 3D.
- The 3D effect in the 3D movies that I watched (Tron Legacy and Tangled are the only movies that I had that came with 3D Blu-Rays when I bought them) had a very good 3D effect and little to no ghosting. Very cool.
- PS3 gaming was decent. Racing games like Wipeout HD, Everybody Golf 5, and Super Stardust used the 3D effect pretty well. Playing Shadow of the Colossus was a bit of a challenge in 3D, as the effect made the game quite a bit darker and made it difficult to see which areas I need to attack and climb.
Having said all that, the display was easily worth the $200. Considering you get a copy of Motorstorm: Apocalypse and the glasses that were included, it was a terrific deal.
So, after having picked up that display on Friday... I went out and picked up an Epson 3010 projector for my theater (to try out... and possibly keep.) After spending a good deal of time trying to determine whether or not I wanted to have a projector that could display 3D or just 2D, I went with the option that would entertain my kids the most. The one word that I would use to describe this projector after only a few minutes of viewing? Bright. Holy crap does it put my old Sony projector to shame.
In fairness to the Sony, it was a 10 year old 720p unit, but man... the technology for these units has really improved by leaps and bounds.
The few minutes that I spent looking at the 3D for the system were very impressive as well. The images were a ton brighter than any 3D movie that I've seen in the theaters to this point.
I'll spend some time with 2D playback and 2D to 3D conversion tonight to see what else the projector has in store.
- Outside of the geek world, I hit a "legit" 52 in league play on Thursday night. It's just so funny, because I can see where I can make up at least 5 to 10 strokes just by hitting solid shots and not shanking so damn many. It's going to be a matter of just really working on my swing and getting that consistent motion down. I'll be playing tomorrow night, Thursday night, and in a company outing on Saturday. Hopefully that will allow me to keep improving my game, as it is a ton more fun when you actually hit good shots from time to time.
- Have a good week. More in the next few days.
Wednesday notes
- I'm taking a few minutes out of my semi-annual watching of the Lord of the Rings trilogy (this time on Blu-Ray) to have a quick post.
- Yesterday was the first time that I ever rode my bike to work. 23 miles each way and it went just about as well as I hoped that it would have. I didn't really try to bust my butt, but just to complete the ride. I managed to finish each way in 1 hour and 30+ minutes, but I can live with that time and improve on it (when it isn't nearly 100 degrees all day.)
- The Google presentation at their IO event was quite interesting today. While you won't find me spending $1,500 for Project Glass... it certainly does look like an amazing bit of technology and is something that I would love to get a chance to see in action.
The Nexus tablet had me interested until I saw that it doesn't have a micro-SD card slot. That pretty much made it a no-sale item for me.
Oh, and I'll be getting Jellybean for my phone in the next month (as long as I root it... stupid Verizon with their crazy update delays.)
- Still looking into projector stuff. It's going to be an ongoing battle to determine what will be the best projector for the long run. I know that I'm spoiled having had a 10 year run with my last projector... so anything that I'll be getting with the next one probably won't have even close to that lifespan.
- Stupid Brewers had to go and win today. Thankfully a scout for the Rangers was on hand to watch Greinke pitch. Milwaukee just doesn't have the tools to make a run this year. Too many injuries and too little hitting from anyone that isn't Braun or Lucroy (or Ramirez, of late.) Make the moves that are necessary for them to be a great team next year, or the year after.
- Probably won't get time to post tomorrow as I"m golfing after work, but we're looking to try and do a show on Friday night. Been a while since we had the band together... might be worth a shot.
Friday notes
- I'm out of town this weekend as I'm attending the Minnesota Walleye opener tomorrow. Still, have a few things to catch up on.
- Can't wait to see game 7 between the Capitals and the Rangers. Man, I hate the Rangers... Really, REALLY want to see them lose tomorrow.
- Thanks to my boss and one of our vendors, I had a chance to meet Aaron Rodgers yesterday and get a few pictures taken with him. I have to say that he was an incredibly nice guy and took quite a bit of time to talk with people. Definitely very generous with his time and, not that I had a bad impression of him in the past, I think quite a bit more highly of him as a person (beyond the athlete side) now as well.
- In gaming, I'm pretty excited to start playing Diablo III next week. I get how some people aren't all that excited about it, but I was a huge fan of the last two games and sank tremendous amounts of time into both. I know that games like Torchlight and their ilk are very similar... but they just don't have that "Blizzard polish" that games like Diablo and Starcraft bring.
- One of my friends at work recommended a movie to me and I have to pass on the recommendation to you all after having seen it. You really need to see "In Bruges." It's a terrific dark comedy from Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleason. Easily one of the most quoteable movies in the last few years.
- Have a great weekend all.
Monday night notes
- Another week, another season of the Wire. Damn that show is good.
Honestly, I cannot remember another show where there wasn't a single character who didn't have massive flaws. Every time the story makes you start to like someone, they do something idiotic that makes you hate them again. Amazingly well written and acted. On to season 3.
- As far as gaming goes, I haven't had much time for anything lately. Other than work, I've been spending a lot of time on working on my running. I've registered for my first ever 8K race at the end of the month and ran that distance for the first time ever last Friday. I didn't complete it as quickly as I would have liked, but I guess that just gives me plenty of room for improvement.
After that, I just have to get back to swimming practice again. Seriously, I'm one of the worst swimmers out there. If I didn't have my wet suit, I wouldn't have a chance. Gotta work on that.
- Nice to have the baseball season back again, and it is refreshing to see the Brewers...um... give us an interesting game to watch tonight.
All kidding aside, it's just great to have baseball back.
I don't know if any of you saw the game on ESPN tonight, but what in the hell is up with the behind the ump camera angle. For the first 3 innings they gave you a view from about 20 feet behind the ump. You could see the ball exit the pitchers hand, then lose it as the batter and ump got in the way. You had no idea what kind of pitch was being thrown and it was nearly impossible to see the ball come off of the bat.
For years, in my opinion, the best camera angle is the one from CF. You can actually see all of the action tonight. Whatever horsecrap that was on ESPN tonight was just plain weird.
- If you have a chance to see it (I know it was on HDNet a few weeks back) check out 'Goon.' It's the first decent hockey movie that I've seen since Slapshot. It's not a serious film by any means, but it actually feels like the people who wrote it had actually seen and/or played the game before. Again, not a terrific film, but a fun hockey movie to watch.
- Back later...
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Riding the Pines Podcast
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What We’re Playing
Dan:
