Gas prices sub $2.00

I'll be making the short trip to Huber Heights today or tomorrow to bask in the glory of gas prices being as low as they have been nearly since I have had my license.

Adventures of a poor college kid

In the latest search for the almighty dollar, I am seriously considering going the blood-plasma donation route. By seriously considering, I mean I have an appointment for 1:00 tomorrow. It seems a little too good to be true.

I go in at one and sign in. They then give me a physical (for the first appointment) to make sure I'm in good health (if I'm not, news to me) and don't have AIDs (if I do, news to me). Then they do what is essentially a blood donation which is then spun in a centrifuge so all the blood cells fall out, leaving the liquid plasma (with the clotting factors included, with a big shout out going to a special someone since I actually understand how this could be useful).

A lot of the blood plasma is used for people with blood clotting issues (hemophiliacs for instance) when a moderate-severe blood loss occurs. Sometimes people with liver disease need it to. Also, correct me if I'm wrong here, but I believe by removing the actual cells, blood plasma is universal for all blood types (again, correct me if I'm wrong).

Basically, the way I see it, I'm doing a good deed, have no fear of needles or blood, and I'm getting paid $40 a pop for it. Sounds pretty unbeatable to me.

Ya know what's really hard?

Eating grapefruit without a grapefruit spoon.

Ah,the joys of college.

Observe:

The greatest grapefruit-spooner ever.


Yours truly.

In other news, interviews for co-ops are done, just writing the thank you letters (maybe I will use the ones I bought for graduation and never filled out, woops) and waiting for a call to go. And I also finally got my camera back from the sister unit. So I got that goin for me....

LittleBigPlanet Delayed

Wonderful. The game that Sony was hoping would be the major "console pusher" of holiday season '08 is being delayed from an expected release on Tuesday, to mid-November.

Apparently, one of the background songs in the game contains two phrases from the Qur'an which Muslim types don't like. From what I learned in basically my religion 101 class, a fairly fundamental Islamic belief is that the Qur'an is literally the word of Allah. This is why it is RARELY translated. Allah (in keeping with the "no translation rule," the Arabic term for God, which, regardless of what your old aunt from Tennessee wants to tell you - and if I remember correctly - is actually the exact same God Christians worship. Fun fact.).

So, some song, the artist of which is actually Muslim (Sunni no doubt), had a few Arabic phrases in it and one of the beta testers noticed it. Rather than mentioning this, oh I dunno, BEFORE MILLIONS OF COPIES WERE MADE AND DISTRIBUTED, he decided to wait until a day or so ago.

Now, tens of millions of dollars in investment later, everything is being recalled, Blue Ray disks (not the less expensive DVDs, mind you) are being burned with the same version of the game, sans song, and shipped all over the world again.

Personally I see this from three sides:

1.) Gamer side - Shit shit shit, this sucks. As a beta tester for the game and college kid with seriously no money, I was considering giving some plasma for money to buy this game. It's that good. The creativity it allows as well as the ability to play others created levels from around the world was really exciting, even in a limited beta version. I can't imagine how this will be in a full release.

2.) Moral side - I understand the problem, and to be fair to the person who mentioned it, he suggested releasing a patch deleting the song (I assume this would be possible) and from here on out printing the new copies sans song. Problem is, he is not the voice of the entire Muslim community, so drastic steps needed to be taken to please everyone. to be honest I feel like if this was released in America only it would not be a major issue, admittedly because American-Muslim relations are so far in the shitter that 95% of the country would give two shits, with maybe 40% actually celebrating pissing Muslims off. The game was initially delayed for Europe only by the company that created it, but Sony stepped in and gave the word to hold it for the world.

3.) Business side - Someone will be getting fired over this. If there has ever been an example of a company putting their eggs in one basket, LittleBigPlanet may be it. Since it was publicly announced in March 2007, they have not skirted around the fact that it is anticipated to be a "console pusher" to get them back competing with the 360 in software sales. Since Sony is still losing money for every system sold, having blockbuster software titles is that much more important. Make no mistake, the fact that they are hoping to have it completely reprinted, shipped, and released in about three weeks time shows how important this is for the company. If I were to explain it in an analogy, it would be like Carson Palmer getting hurt for the Beng--- oh wait. Yea, it's like that.


P.S. the past two blog posts being horribly long will not turn into a trend, I promise

UPDATE: ah the joys of blog posting on developing events... apparently media molecule (the publishing/design company responsible for the game) is going with the patch/change future discs route. This makes a lot more sense, and further shows what I was saying about this being a huge product for Sony. The patch was made and ready for release about 12 hours after it came to their knowledge. For some perspective on that: NCAA 09 finished a gameplay patch about a week following the release, but Sony did not approve it and put it up for download until two months later. This speed of turnover is rare to say the least (unprecedented is more like it)

Em's Back

Given that I kind of consider myself a bit of a student of rap, I can't let this go un-commented on. Before you make the snarky "student of rap comment," I've heard it before. Har har.

Sometime last night Eminem announced on his radio station (didn't realize he had his own station, it probably sucks) that he is releasing his sixth studio album, R3lapse. There has been talk for about a year now that he has been in the studio working on an album known as "King Mathers," I'm assuming that is what this is. With it he released his first bit of music from the album, appropriately called, "I'm Having a Relapse," embedded below. Take two minutes and listen.




I admit, sometimes I'm a little too quick to anoint an album. When Carter III came out I was convinced Lil Wayne was the best rapper alive. Then Nas came out with The Ni-ahem, Untitled and I was floored. Surely that would be the best rap album of the year. To prove me wrong again, Game came out with LAX. Most recently, T.I.'s Paper Trail is on my list of "album of the year" with seriously four or five Top 10 singles. I'm a bit of a lemming, I understand.

For the record, my revisionist rankings go somewhat like this:
1. Untitled - Nas
2. Paper Trail - T.I.
3(t). Carter III - Lil Wayne, LAX - Game


With that being said, I really really really truly honestly think this could be the return of the real Eminem. In this two minute freestyle he touched on prescription pain killer abuse, anal sex with inanimate objects, self-abuse, and finding the body parts of a cheerleader. Gruesome? Absolutely. Offensive? Without a doubt. Catchy as hell? Yes, again.

It looks like, from this extremely small but promising sample, that Eminem has found his way out of the fake-gangsta G-Unit mentality and back into rapping about HIS life as a white trash kid from the Detroit trailer park with his signature over-the-top-ness and black comedy.

Call me a bit of an optimist, but for now I'm considering (hoping) the "3" in the album title being Em's own recognition that this will be the third time that Marshall Mathers comes out to play (previously in the Slim Shady EP and self-titled LP), not Hollywood-Em (Eminem Show, which was good but clearly different, and Encore, meh) or G-Unot (post Encore, hurl city).

Please please please please don't screw this up...

the bengals are terrible

they can win out from now until 2010 and I will still hold that fact to be true. At best they will be 2-14.

Yes, at best.

The Browns will finish off about a .500 team, as will the Patriots.

Stone.

Bringin it to the States

A while back I posted an extremely well done Nike commercial that was only released in Europe, no doubt because of it's focus on soccer. It seems that they have brought the idea over here for OUR version of football. While this one loses a little in going with the majestic, epic music - one thing I really liked about the European version was the peppier mood - it is still very good.

Kudos to a marketing group that really doesn't need any more:





EDIT:
For some reason I can't figure out if I really did post the soccer video before. Either way, here it is. Far and away my favorite Nike commercial, and that's saying a lot.

Woes of fantasy football

I am cursed:

No kidding, this was my fantasy team at the beginning of the year:

Yes it's a weird roster set up, I know.

QB: Tom Brady - shit.
RB: Julius Jones - considering he was going to be the go-to guy with Morrice injured, he has been very unimpressive.
RB: Chris Johnson - the rookie on the Titans, the one player I'm not totally disappointed in.
RB/WR: Reggie Bush - Don't get it twisted, he's a wide reciever/utility player; not a running back.
WR: Braylon Edwards - Finally got his head out of his ass on Monday, we'll he where he goes.
TE/WR: Roy Williams - Just traded after a highly unproductive year.
TE: Kellen Winslow - Just was released from the hospital for a pretty serious non-football illness.
DP: Patrick Willis - OK I lied, he hasn't been bad either. Still, a defensive player isn't winning any games.
D: Giants - Injuries and no Strahan has left a mark.


I kid you not.
Cursed I tell ya.

New favorite e-comic

Ok maybe not FAVORITE, but Luke Surl Comics is pretty entertaining - rarely LOL funny, but not all comics need to be - with very few duds. Something not even XKCD can say. I'm not sure if the title is the dude's actual name, or if it's a witty way of writing Luke's URL, as in Luke's website. It's a mystery for the ages...

Some favs:

Fall Break

Finally. Three tests today, one last Friday. It's been a long past 7 days.

In other news, new South Park tonight at 10. Check out the link of you are a fan of Cartman, Kyle, Stan, dead-Kenny, and Butters. Every episode free streaming. Boners!

This is Surreal...

Never did I in my wildest dreams ever think I would hear the words "Belmont University" come out of Obama or McCain's mouth.

Here's to a really really friggin' cool school being in the national spotlight for 90 minutes.

The Ultimate Tailgate List

Ok, not complete because I don't want everyone's browser to crash from the massive songs. This will give you a solid idea.

And yes, the USSR anthem is a must have. Don't question my tactics.


SeeqPod - Playable Search

And for you nerds out there who bring a TV with you:

If I never hear of Wall St./Main St. again

I will die a happy man. God I hate news cliches of the day.

Not Who Dey, but What are Dey Thinking?

Marvin Lewis needs an anatomy class. He obviously doesn't realize that every human body has a spine. He needs to show he has one, and once, just once live up to his word.

I'm tired of signing players other teams don't want to take a chance on (or in Benson's case, players that have also showed an inability to play a full season uninjured, OR live up to their potential). I thought the Bengals were cleaning house, getting rid of players that don't earn their paycheck. So far there has been one whole player that has been dealt with in Rudi Johnson (about two seasons too late, now you can't even get a late-round draft pick out of him, way to go).

Instead, the Bengals just keep 'em coming. I don't completely blame Lewis though. Fun fact: the Bengals have the smallest scouting department in the NFL. It's pretty tough to field a competitive team when you can't even scout the same number of players as any other team. Thanks, Mike Brown.

I'm done, from here on out the only mention of the Bengals you will get from me will be celebration when Chad is finally able to go play for a competitive team. At this point in the season though, he looks like he is fitting in the 'nati all too well.

EDIT: HEY MIKE! How about Travis Henry! He needs a job too!