Blogger Play

While tinkering with my blog (Check out the "This Just In..." section!), I stumbled upon this little gizmo. It's a slide show of all the images being uploaded to Blogger.com. It's pretty entertaining!

http://play.blogger.com

Aesthetic Autobot

Here's a cool rendition of Optimus Prime I found while surfing deviantART. By the way, good movie!

Roll Out by Andrew Dickman

(Click image for higher quality)

OMG Halo 3!!!

Yesterday belonged to gamers. The day Halo 3 was released. Hundreds of thousands of children and adults alike flooded local electronics stores to get their hands on a copy. After getting the game, many went home to play it for hours on end. At that moment, their lives seemed complete.

This sort of mass hysteria just to get a game perplexes me. Especially when it comes to the game they all wanted. Sure, Halo is entertaining... but it is just another futuristic FPS. I really fail to see how it is that much better than all the others of its kind we've seen lately. What about Unreal Tournament? Red Faction? Time Splitters?

Aside from its online experience, Halo is just another FPS to me. It may be pretty, but it doesn't deserve the craze and it DEFINITELY does not deserve its own brand of Mountain Dew!

I Did Monday

NBC's recent ad campaign for its new Monday night lineup has been "Do Mondays". I was tired and had no place to be, so I did. And as it turned out, it was with limited commercial interruption! (I'll get to that later)

Here was the lineup: (Eastern times)


8:00 PM- Chuck

This is a show about a low wage computer store employee who happens to be sent an e-mail from an old Stanford buddy. It turns out his buddy was actually a rogue agent for the US government who had in his possession all of our nation's intelligence and secrets. As he lay dying, he sent the secrets, which are embedded in various images, to Chuck.

After Opening this e-mail, Chuck is bombarded with thousands of images. Subconsciously he absorbed all the images and their codes, making him either a very large target, or a very helpful tool for the US. After a few gags and adventures with another agent trying to get the secrets, he ends up back in his regular life of Buy Mart. Only now he's being watched by two agents wherever he goes.

The characters in this new show are just funny enough and the plot is just unique enough that this show may actually have a fighting chance. I'd at least give it a season and a half. We'll see what the rest of America thinks!


9:00 PM- Heroes

I assume most of you are familiar with this shows premises. Basically, the show revolves around a group of "special" humans who have abilities such as regeneration, flying, or time travel. There are a few of these individuals who are not so nice. One man, known as Sylar, has been traveling the earth searching for other heroes so that he may kill them and absorb their powers. He has been the main antagonist throughout the show.

Last night's premiere wasn't the most action-packed episode, but it did shed some light on previous questions and of course provide us with dozens more. In my opinion, this show is very well made and I cannot see it leaving anytime soon.

Now I mentioned that there was "limited commercial interruption". It turns out they meant they'd only show one commercial... 10 times! It was a commercial for a Nissan car, that apparently sponsored Heroes. It was shown in clusters of three or four every 15 minutes. Come on!


10:00 PM- Journeyman

And now we come to Journeyman. Journeyman focuses on one man's journeys through time. He goes to bed one night, and wakes up in the past. These random time-traveling events seem to even take place in the middle of the day. As of yet, he has only traveled by decades. First back to 1987 to save a man from committing suicide, and then once to 1997 to stop the same man from killing his ex-wife and son. His random disappearances, however, put a strain on his marriage and almost causes a divorce, had he not gone back in time and buried a ring for his wife to find later.

Everything considered, I don't know if this show can make it. The late time slot combined with its semi-confusing plot may mean bad news for this drama.

Well that is Monday night in a nutshell. Next stop: Thursday for My Name is Earl and The Office!

Raiders: 26 Browns: 24

In truly dramatic fashion, the Oakland Raiders actually won a game this past Sunday. In the last moments of the game, the Cleveland Browns attempted a field goal and made it. This would have won the game if the Raiders hadn't called a time-out at the last possible second. They set up again and the Raiders block it! They win! It only took twelve tries but they've won another game!

Now, usually this would be a great story to remember and talk about but not much more. To me however, I believe this is "playing dirty". To call a time-out at the last second is legal I suppose, but it takes away from the game. I'm not a Browns fan, so that is not where this is coming from, I just feel that those tactics are cheap.

The Browns are not the only ones who lost Sunday, the character of the sport took quite a hit as well.

Greed: The Ultimate Linebacker

If you are even slightly cognizant of your surroundings, you most likely know OJ's in the Big House again. He currently is facing 11 charges of armed robbery and other offenses. Sound familiar?

A few years back, Maurice Clarett was brought in for the same exact thing. What is it that makes these famous people rob someone? Don't they know that any sports aware person is going to recognize a famous Running Back? Sure, one could argue they were blinded by desperation, but I say they had a choice. If Maurice Clarett had simply stayed at OSU for his four years, then gone into the draft, he'd be snatched up quick and be making millions easy. But alas, he chose to ruin his life over a few hundred bucks.

OJ's predicament was slightly different. He'd have to start making better decisions about 15 years ago to fix his mess. All in all, this is just one of many people who've been "tackled for a loss" by Greed: The Ultimate Linebacker.

EDIT: Just an hour ago, OJ Simpson posted his 125K bail. Will he get away AGAIN? We'll have to wait and see.

Upcoming Sessions

The following is a message from the GM concerning the year's remaining sessions:

"Okay, so after a session of good old 80’s style dungeon crawl party annihilation, we will be turning our attention to Everway. The scheduled date for the next session is October 27^th with the usual start time of 1:00 PM.

The November session will quickly follow taking place on the 10^th rather than later in the month due to Thanksgiving. I’m leaning towards running Conspiracy X.

Schmidt asked to run Kobolds Ate My Baby! for the December gaming session. The two Saturdays that we have the kids in December are the 8^th and the 22^nd. I’ll leave it up to him which of those days is better to run the session."

These are the games you can look forward to hearing about in the next few months!

10:00 PM is the Time for Crime

After browsing over a few channels last night around 10:00 PM (Eastern Time, if that matters) I found that every show on was about death and crime. Here's the Lineup:

NBC- Law & Order: SVU
ABC- Primetime Crime
My TV- COPS
CBS- NCIS
FOX- Local News (Scarier than the dramas!)
PBS- Nature (Hippos killing one another)
CW- More Local News

As much as the Hippo documentary was briefly entertaining, one can only watch so much death and crime before it get old. The only real problem is if you cut out these shows completely, you'll continue to get bored with whatever type of show you're currently watching until you make it back to crime. I suppose the real answer here is simply watching less Television.

I'd also like to say that I've about had it with all the legal and police dramas. If I counted correctly, there are over 20 crime-related dramas on network TV during the week! Enough is enough!

Happiness Comes in a 2" X 1.5" Rectangle

(Click on the picture for an obscene close-up)

Alas, it is here. Another iPod! I was worried we wouldn't have enough variety with only 20 different kinds! As much as that sounds negative, I actually quite like the new iPod Nano. With it's rounded contour and crisp screen, it is by far better than the old stick-of-gum-shaped Nanos.

The storage capacity is amazing for it's size. Not being a super tech junkie, I won't get into all the statistics. But overall, this may actually be an iPod I'll consider purchasing.

Apple Homepage
iPod on Wikipedia

Just Say No

If you'd like to scar your brain with Chris Crocker's face, click here!

Lately there's been a LOT of buzz concerning this "LEAVE BRITNEY ALONE!!!" guy. Chris Crocker is his name, I believe. It is strange and disturbing that because a gender-confused teenager cried out for a clearly burnt-out pop star, he is now famous. He has received his share of criticism, but he's also receiving accolades for his "performances". It seems a lot of undeserving people have found fame and meaning through the Internet. Quite an esteem booster for them, but at the same time quite a stain on the dignity of the human race. I disapprove.

And for the record, Britney Spears has been the direct cause of all her trouble. Let it be known, decisions have consequences!

Holy Promotional, Batman!

Have you noticed the "Websites of Worth" section over on the right? Go ahead, take a look. You'll notice the "From the Historian's Couch" link. Click on it. It's just another blog managed by an unidentified member of the gaming group who may-or-may-not be the GM. And that about wraps it up for this shameless plug!

A Blurb on H.P. Lovecraft

I have been reading a collection of short stories by H.P. Lovecraft. So far I have read Dagon and The Outsider. Both were not as scary as I had heard. Unless The Call of Cthulhu can scare me, I think I'll be dismissing H.P. Lovecraft's supposed scariness into the dump along with Edgar Allan Poe's "chilling tales".

NOTE: Although some of the ideas represented within the stories are mildly creepy, they still fail to "freak me out".

The Almighty Squash Kachina

While perusing Deviant Art, I came upon this piece. I find it both epic and awesome. According to Wikipedia, a "Kachina" is a sort of demi-god worshiped by the Hopi and Zuni Indians that brings life. They can be represented through elements, dolls, animals and more. The coloring and proportions of this Squash Kachina, the guardian or life bringer of gourds, are quite masterful. Well done, ursulav, well done. I may even steal it for my own uses!

Link to Wikipedia Article
ursulav's DA Profile

Celebrity Rap Superstar

If you forget the lyrics, just shake it!

I witnessed last night what I hope is the end of celebrity singing competitions. It was that which is the horror of B List celebrities rapping. Among the not-so-stellar contests are Kendra Wilkinson (Hugh Hefner Girlfriend), Sebastian Bach (Rock Star, or so I'm told), Countess Vaughn (Former Star Search winner), Jason Wahler (Guy from The Hills), Perez Hilton (Celebrity blogger), and Shar Jackson (Actress/K-Feds 1st Baby Mama).

Besides Shar Jackson, they all are somewhere between moderately and extremely bad at rapping. However, with the antics of Wahler's performances, and the booty shakin' of Kendra, it may be worth tuning in... or at least watching the performances on YouTube.

Gaming Session Overview #1

Today's game, Basic D&D, was quite an adventure for our party. With horrible Hit Point rolls, we were worried about our survival. In the tradition of 80's dungeon crawlers, our first quest was to kill an evil wizard in a ruined castle. Our party, a Dwarf, Elf, Wizard, Thief, and Cleric all marched with purpose towards the ruins. To keep this short, I shall summarize.

The Elf was stunned by a large worm who took a toll on our party. After an attempt to enter the castle, kobolds rained down arrows upon us, damaging the Elf beyond death. The Elf's clone who was nearby came to help and suffered the same fate, as did the Cleric and the Wizard. The Dwarf attempted to chop down the gate and was killed. The thief however scaled the wall and rained down lit flasks of oil with minimal effect. After returning to town, the Thief charged at the castle with a party of clones who successfully made it past the kobolds. With the exception of the Thief, they were all slain by spiders and zombies. Quite reminiscent of a Munchkin adventure!

Next month, Everway is the game of choice. It is played with the aid of the elements and cards. Should be exciting!

Opening Day

After a long day of sports and Basic D&D, it was decided that the creation of a blog was necessary. Here is a general outline of what will be seen on this blog:

1) On non-special days, my opinions on a variety of subjects will be voiced.
2) Once a month, I will post the happenings of our monthly gaming session.
3) If I feel like it there may be some reviews of different forms of media.

Well this should be an experience. Also, to avoid inconvenience, there is no set schedule for posting dates. However, gaming-related posts will most often occur towards the middle of each month.