And the list gets longer...

For the first time owning a PS3 I can honestly say that I have a bonafide game wishlist. Not my typical "on if I were to win a million dollars I would buy this this this and this," I always have one of those.

No no, this is a list of games that if you find me in a weak moment I just may go out and buy. And I'll definitely end up buying more than one. At $60 a pop, that is no small statement. The list is as follows (in a somewhat particular order):

1.) Killzone 2 - Holy shit. Granted, I don't have a 360 so I have actually never played Gears of War and my Halo 3 time is limited, but after playing just the demo for this, I'm thinking we may have a new best FPS for consoles. Unlike over 90% of games in this generation, the gameplay is on par with the graphics. And oh (again..) holy shit (/again...) is that saying something:

Picture this at a cool 60 fps. Try not to wet the bed. (Click for a higher res)

Video - The framerate isn't that bad in game:




2.) Little Big Planet - After getting the tease of a weekend long beta play, I'm really surprised this one isn't already on my shelf. Either way, still one of my favorite games out currently (with NO BLOOD OR GUTS OR FOOTBALLS EVEN!, how 'bout that ma!). I dig the creation capabilities and since release they have really embraced the download-able content (DLC) scene with weekly (usually free) releases of new goodies. A good game just gets better.

3.) Skate 2 - This one intriques me. Usually the skating genre is Tony Hawk's to lay claim to, but this new franchise is starting to make some serious ground and worry the Tony Hawkers. The motion-based controls seem somewhat gimmicky to me, but I'm not gonna knock it until I've tried it.

4.) Every Rock Band song available for download - God, I like this game. Consider me the next Ringo once MTV game's next rhythm game comes out (consider it number 3.5 on this list). It damn well better support Rock Band "instruments".

5.) Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising - I loved the first game in this uber-realistic "military strategy" (they don't like to be called shooters) series when I played it on Xbox, it just looked like something that was released before technology would fully allow it to achieve its objective. Maybe the power of the consoles in this generation will really make this shine. Sadly though, this is the type of game that is best bought on the PC so the mod scene can really get a hold of it and make it amazing. It seems like it could still fare well on the consoles though... we'll see.

6.) Watchmen: The End is Nigh - This would be a bit of a fanboy purchase more than anything. I can't imagine it being much more than a made for the movie release type game. Those types of games generally are the worst types of games. Save Goldeneye... ah sweet sweet Goldeneye. The price seems a bit steep for a "PSN" release too; they generally hover near $10.00, slightly more than a Blockbuster rental.

7.) NCAA Football '10 - Premature? Hell yes. I have high hopes (slash expectations) that EA will finally get it right on their third or fourth or whatever it is now year on this generation. '09 was right on the cusp of the greatness of the old PS2 games, but still no I-AA teams, playbook creator, etc. kept it from being perfect. Fix a few of these things and we could have a winner. Or create a Head Coach for college football. The differences between coaching in college and the pros are immense (ask Charlie) and it could make for one hell of a sports simulation.

The pig says, "My wife is a slut."

When I see this:



This conversation is all that goes through my head:
Elaine: I don't remember , but it certainly wasn't this. Look at this cartoon in the New Yorker, I don't get this.
Jerry: I don't either.
Elaine: And you're on the fringe of the humor business.
George: Hey!
Elaine: Hey! George look at this.
George: That's cute.
Elaine: You got it?
George: No , never mind.
Elaine: Come on , We're two intelligent people here. We can figure this out. Now we got a dog and a cat in an office.
Jerry: It looks like my accountant's office but there's no pets working there.
Elaine: The cat is saying " I've enjoyed reading your E-mail".
George: Maybe it's got something to do with that 42 in the corner .
Elaine: It's a page number.
George: Well , I can't crack this one.
Elaine: Aahh! this has got to be a mistake.
George: try shaking it...(long pause) Well ,Janet should be here any minute.

Seriously, the New Yorker is really not funny. Or good at political cartoons... Just ineffective. To be completely honest, there were three reasons I posted this:
1.) Seinfeld references are always good.
2.) I want to see what everyone's favorite greek hero had to say about this. Free speech win out? How dare they blaze on Obama? This comic sucks? All of the above? My curiousity got the best of me.
3.) I really badly needed to post something.

So much for that 365 posts thing...

Sorry about the uber-delay. Possibly the longest ever. Things have been fairly hectic (especially over the weekends when I usually mine the interwebz and Earth-in-general for exciting blog posts) what with work, and three trips out of town. Grandma is doing fine by the way...

In my delay I have decided a few things:

1.) Entourage is good. Really really good. I have been catching up on them from the library and Netflix (for the later seasons) and should be well into Season four by this weekend or so. Absolutely stellar script writing to keep what is essentially a repeated macro-storyline (guy gets movie, movie sells mass, guy celebrates with friends). Definitely recommend this one.

2.) This guy is hilarious. Basically, Chi City Mane is the realest dude from Chi town now livin' in the burbs. He chronicles his adventures with his personal Handycam (meaning you never really see his face). Yet another recommendation. As a matter of fact, I'll save you the trip:





And finally, if you don't watch any of the other one's cause they look stupid and you don't need any more ghetto slang in your life, please at least just watch this one. It'll warm your heart. A little Christmas love for the less fortunate:


3.) I'm out of shape. Trying to start working out is probably four times harder than trying to continue working out. I'm realizing this the hard way. Oh well.... onward.

4.) One of my cats now does not eat unless other people are in the room with her. I swear, this cat is quickly getting the nickname "Kevin McAlister" because I think she is afraid of the furnace, near which her main food bowl currently rests. Now we have another secondary food bowl in the living room, but that is just darn inconvenient when the Iams is down in the basement by said Main Food Bowl. The things we do for our pets...

5.) Speaking of pets, I'll be making friends (hopefully....) with three more this weekend. I'll be sure to take massive embarrassing and revealing photos chronic-(WHAT!?)-cling their living arrangements (jk doe....)

First day of work today!

Seems like it'll be a good time. First day I walk into my plant and who do I see? the brother of the guy who I had been living with for the past 5 months. Pretty crazy if ya ask me.

But yea, that was the highlight of the day pretty much. A lot of paperwork and "getting me into the system." That's a lot of what this week is going to be.

Oh, and I'll have a daily starting time of 6 AM. That won't be fun. Oh well, that's what ya get for being the n00b. As a final thought, today made me think of this. And yes, having true life events make one recall an xkcd does make one a major nerdburger.

So does using the word "one" instead of "me".

I'm On a Roll Tonight

Can you tell it's the first weekend with just me and the 'rents? Not that there's anything wrong with that....

If you follow the blog you know that I have a way out of character fondness for Brand New. I say out of character because usually I don't harp on a single band this much (Exhibit A: they have their own tag, with multiple entries). I was going through their website checking for when they planned on putting out some new music ('09 looks good) and looking at some of the old news posts they had.

This entry caught my eye. While every band harps on the "it isn't for the money" line, I think this may be one of the most poignant forms of saying that I have seen yet:

We would like to express our gratitude to anyone of you who has ever spent a nickel on this band, whether it was getting into a show, or buying a sticker, or a t shirt, or a record. It takes money to tour, and feed a band and its crew, or to record an album (after the label has spent all of yours). You all make these things possible, and in turn keep Brand New a band. But the bottom line is that we would rather this band didn't become something we felt like we were constantly selling to you guys. The only thing we as a band will ever claim authenticity on is our music. Just because all that other stuff comes from us, just because you bought a shirt on our website, or at a show, or got a lyric book in the mail, it doesn't mean it's any more unique or authentic then something you could do yourself. In fact it is less. It's just merchandise. The only "official" part of the band is what you hear on our records or at a show, the sounds we make. Write BRAND NEW on your knuckles or on a wall and it's just a good as some sticker that has an "interscope" logo on it. If you're feeling up to it, save the twenty bucks you were gonna spend on our merch site and write "The Devil and God are Raging Inside me" in marker on your dad's old t shirt. It will scare your parents, cost you nothing, and be about the most limited edition thing anyone will ever own... unless you make two.


What we are trying to say is that the important thing is that you are listening, and not so much buying. Spread it around. Share us with your friends. We thank you for supporting our band, and appreciate that you continue to do so, especially by playing our albums and coming to shows to watch us play. We hope everyone has a good holiday and a joyful new year. We're brushing up on our German and Gaelic.

This is why I don't mind waiting two years for them to release a new album. They do it for the right reasons, and if it doesn't sound right, throw it away and do it again. The candor - or honesty, or whatever you want to call it - is nice.

And now for something you have all seen before

Two posts today, mainly so I don't fall further behind on my "365-post" rule this early in the game:

Five Things I'm Interested in Right Now that I Will Probably Burn Out On in a Month
(A derivative of my "Top 5")

1.) Cooking - Thanks to watching Top Chef marathons pretty much all of finals week, some Pavlovian shit has made this a major curiosity/hobby/interest of mine lately. To add to it, I got Alton Brown's I'm Just Here for the Food for Christmas, and I've realized I like reading about cooking when it's not in the form of a cookbook. It's like a chem lab that you get to eat at the end, which totally revs me up.

...Long distance...

2.) Converting vinyl to digital - It was a Christmas present/project to mom and dad and (like all good hobbies of mine) is turning out to be a lot more work than I had originally imagined. It helps feed into my visions of being Rick Ruben/Scott Storch. I've realized grown-ups still play pretend, it's usually just a lot more expensive than when "we" (I'm not a grown up.) were younger.
3.) Rock Band 2 - I've gotten up to being able to play aboutttt half the songs on Hard. It's those half-beat kick drum patterns that are causing me trouble right now, but I'm working through them, all the while giving myself more false hope of being musically talented. Nothing like this guy though:



3.) Meh, can't think of anything here. Put this as another long distance in between

4.) Reading good books - Finally having a shitload of time after a semester of not having much has its benefits. No more information to be divulged in this sector right now because it will make for good blog-fodder later.

5.) Dashboard Confessional - This one is taking the "right now" qualifier pretty literally. Haven't listened to Chris Carrabba in a while (like, since A Mark A Mission A Brand A Scar was released), and I must say I don't mind him.

A good family picture:

In case you were curious, this would be a solid general description of my family:

Prior to watching Step Brothers (but obviously after dinner, which mainly consisted of a random collection of whatever sounded good at the time with no culinary rhyme or reason: nachos, mac and cheese, chili maybe, chili dip, or in my case just some dry noodles) my sister and I decide it is high time for a Funfetti cake. In my family, Funfetti is the sacred cake-mix of all cake-mixes. Like a top shelf liquor, it can't be drank on just any Saturday movie-night. To give sufficient reason for this 13x9 pan of glory we ran to the cabinet with the food coloring. Since the sister teaches elementary school kids she always has a solid grasp on those holidays that I, being a college student at a school that doesn't really let us out for anything, have since forgotten about.

We mixed red, then blue, then some green, then a little more red, heck throw some yellow in while were at it, and finally a little more red and that... right... there... maybe... yes!

Our very own Martin Luther King Jr. day African-American Funfetti cake. Off color? Probably. Should I have posted this on the interwebz for (potentially) all to see? Probably not. Either way, good, fun times for all. And the Funfetti was glorious.

Disclaimer: In reality, once the mix got baked, the color didn't really stick around much. It was more of an Italian-in-the-summer tan. Oh, and this was meant in no way to be derogatory to African Americans or Italians in the summer. Thank you and have a nice day.

How many roads must a man walk down?

This week I finally got around to reading The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, a book I've been interested in for years and avoided seeing the movie for reason of avoiding it ruining the book for me (both because of spoilers and the quality).

The Restaurant at the End of the Universe is already on hold. Douglas Adams is probably one of the best character builders I have experienced. Whether it's Arthur Dent, your average Joe, Ford Prefect, the automobile-named alien who intended to be on Earth for a week only to be forgotten about for 15 years to finally have to escape to leave, or Marvin, the manic-depressive robot. They all have a sense of depth, personality, and even a unique voice of sorts (and sense of humor).

Writing a book based around a veritable encyclopedia of the universe can't be an easy task. Small pieces of the guide are mentioned throughout the novel, helping to build the reader's understanding of the history of the universe and provide more lighthearted comic relief.

Which is the reason I'm planning on reading the whole series now. Sure, the characters are wonderful and the ability any sci-fi writer worth his salt has to create a whole universe (and it's unique machines) astounds me, but Adams does all of it with a sort of lightheartedness that I really can't get enough of. I'm not a huge reader by any means. So when I actively want to read a book rather than turn on the PS3, it's a huge compliment to the abilities of the writer. This writer has me hooked.

Attempting to not sound like a prick here....

Work with me here. The LA Times posted this picture of Steve Jobs today and a year ago, to show how his pretty highly publicized hormonal imbalance has affected him.

To me, all his picture shows is that 1) he is balding and 2) he shaved on Sept. 8th, 2008, but not on Sept. 16-18th 2007.



It's been rumored that he has been dealing with a rare treatable form of pancreatic "cancer," so maybe a type of chemo has to do with the hair-loss and discoloration. Either way, I hope the best for him. A world without Steve Jobs (or Bill Gates) would be like the Galactic Empire not having Luke Skywalker or Darth Vader. Just kind of empty and "what are we really doing here"-esque. Mainly I don't think the time lapse picture was the best choice for the article, it just invites needless speculation (see: this blog post).

Ahhh

Vacations are nice. Now a week from today I will be enjoying (I hope) my first day of real work. What real entails I still have no idea, other than that it is at the aircraft engine portion of GE. So that'll be interesting....

Until then, a however-many-part-I-feel-like-making-this part series on what I have been doing. However, in an effort to make this not seem LiveJournal/Xanga-y, I will throw in completely meaningless and absurd pictures, like the one to the right >>>

Part 1
Apparently, rocking my exams. I won't go into specifics because then some smarty-mcfee will jump in the comments and rain on the parade, but it was all A's and B's. If I have a solid mix of those the rest of school I can't complain.

Part 2
Pretty much after Part 1 there was a long lull of complete randomness and non-newsworthy happenings. Costume party, to which I busted out my Elf costume famous from tacky Christmas sweater day from senior year of high school.

I'm pretty much a carbon copy

Part 3
Part 3, which could realistically be exchanged with Part 2, and could be placed either BC (Before Christmas) or AC (After Christmas) consists of a large amount of Fallout 3 (Happy Bird-day to me!) and Rock Band 2 (thanks, Santa).

Fallout 3 is pretty much the shiz-nizzle. Not recommended if, like me, you are a big weenie when it comes to post-Apocalyptic radiated zombies that look eeriely similar to the things from I Am Legend. They lurk everywhere; dark places, the middle of the block, behind you, or in abandoned buildings.

While not the same (at all really), visual similarities are there.

Overall, I have to say its a very good game. Maybe the best I have played so far on PS3. The biggest flaw is that for a console game it is still surprisingly buggy (a trend in nearly all "next-gen" multiplatform games it seems). Nothing major, just the occasional freeze.

I really don't think I could say anything about Rock Band 2 that hasn't already been said/heard by any of you. It's sweet, and basically exactly the same as Guitar Hero World Tour. Only difference is the song selection. I'm impressed with Rock Band's and have already spent too much money downloading everything from No Doubt ("Don't Speak," if you were curious) to Boston ("Peace of Mind").

Part 3 has been the largest part of my vacation, for sure.

Part 4
That is of course unless you count Part 4 (ohhh, twist!!). Part 4 can be the coverall consisting of spending time with that one girl that lives down the street (also referred to as Stinky, because she is really really white like the uncle of the friendly ghost and has poor hygene habits). Yea, I saw her occasionally.

We went and saw the Nutcracker, with the highlight being the kid behind us telling mom, "I wanna go hoooooommmmeeeeee," about midway through Act 2. I grinned and couldn't really disagree with him. At least someone had the kahunas to say it. Don't get it twisted though, still an enjoyable time.


Overall, good break. Definitely needed to some extent. Now comes 2009, which I can already say with confidence will be nothing like 2008.... or 2007, or 06, or 05, or... you get the idea. My resolution-to-be-broken this year is to learn to cook more than eggs, mac and cheese, and cheeseburgers and to have 365 posts by the end of the year. I'm already behind, so clearly not off to a good start. Maybe this one can count as two....

Happy (end of) Holidays and New Year to all!

Taking some time out of my procrastination....

I understand that pretty much everyone here also frequents a couple other blogs ("couple" being used in a very broad way...). There are only maybe one or two readers that I can think of that may just give sole homage to me. Those people are pretty stupid because honestly, this this is pretty boring on the scale of blogdom.

This is one that is not: http://my42cents.blogspot.com/.

No, its not the weird political 42 cents blog, though the author does address this.

The premise is simple. Taken from the website:

"The Correspondent writes a real letter and posts it each weekday. Bookmark the page and subscribe to the RSS feed to receive daily content. Please share the page with friends and family, so that they, too, may come to expect correspondence. If you have any comments or suggestions, both are welcome via the comment links below each letter."

My personal favorites, the letter to the first grade, Val Kilmer, and the Ice Mountain Water one (mainly good because, sometimes, the companies will reply back).

Lessons learned from this blog: write letters to companies, they usually give away free stuff. Also, a lot more people than I had imagined enjoy a personal letter from someone completely anonymous.

Fun stuff, check it out.

Two classes (all but) done

Both were classes where we essentially had a semester long project, and everything in each was dedicated to said project.

One (Intro to flight) ended up being a 71 page report of sorts, the other (my last CAD class) fills a binder full of schematics. I don't even know what schematics are but I have a binder full of them.

Donezo. Also, both I turned in a little early for some honestly pretty redic. extra credit (considering the grade for each is all but my final semester grade).

I have drank three times more cans of energy drinks and cups of coffee than I have had hours of sleep this week. I think I deserve some Chipotle.

Fun gross fact of the day

Taurine, the stuff they cram in energy drinks that I consume way too much, is also a major constituent of bile.

Just ask wikipedia (actually cited by seemingly academic sources too!)

Finals Week Eve [slash] Finals Week

You guys know the drill, I suck. This week and next will be sporadic with school really picking up, then with the holidays I will probably take some R&R.

I'll post some shorties here and there, but as always, this is fairly high on the list of things to go (don't worry, Mom, PS3 is too) when the going gets rough.

The good news (that I'm not sure if I have mentioned here yet; if I have, ignore me) is that I will be home next semester working at GE (the "Aviation" portion) getting some much needed on-the-job training and making some serious dough stacks in the process. Well, compared to my current job of unemployed. I get to use my favorite division problem here: my pay rate increase will be x/0. Undefined ftw!

Anywho, back to finishing up these end of semester projects. Hollaaaaa

Happy Birthday To Me

And in honor of my consistently sporadic and late posting, this is a day late!!!

HURRAH!!!

Why I love my major 1.0

Intro: This is going to be a running theme. I'll try not to get too nerdy because, let's be honest, I do actually have a rep to try to live up to. I'm not sure where it is going to go, but that's what's fun about life. Onward:

1.0 - Whenever I make fun connections to non-engineering stuff. Well, in the traditional sense of the word. We in the major (like any major) like to think that everything is engineering. People hate us for this.

You know that weirdness about how when you breathe out with your mouth open hot air comes out, but when you breathe out with wittle itty bitty kissy wips, cold air comes out? No, there is not a mini thermostat in there, though that would be friggin awesome. Nor are you cold hearted (well, maybe you are, but cold kissy breathe is not related to the relative warmth of your heart).

This is a phenomenon that is called I-don't-know-what. I'm sure it does have a name, but I don't know it because only the really complicated things get names.

Essentially, this has to do with mass flow (your breath) through a nozzle (your kissy wips) or a diffuser (the "she must be unlisted" type of breathing). Basically, as you lower the exit area for a gas while raising the velocity, through some boring thermodynamic properties that we can ignore, the temperature of said gas will decrease. Sure, in theory it is possible to "she must be unlisted" breathe out hot air, but it would have to be really friggin fast. To the tune of 50 times faster than your kissy-wips breathing. Given the limited capacity of our lungs, it's pretty much impossible. Don't go collapsing anything trying to do this.

This is just something that has always seemed a little curious to me and I never would have thought that I would figure out the why while studying mechanical engineering. Truth is, we are machines ladies and gentlemen.

Now that's some hot breath.

Every Time I think you couldn't get any dumber....

Ok, the title really has nothing to do with the body, but I just wanted to quote some Dumb and Dumber, Jim Carrey's best motion picture.

Anywho, to the point. Just when I thought Google couldn't get any cooler (really, I thought their method of predicting the flu impressed me to the max), they one up me. Google is now hosting every image from Life magazine from 1860-1970s. We're not talking shit 300x300px "here is the idea" size. No, no. More like full-ish res 1000(or so)x1000(or so).

Really impressed. If only I had to write history papers still. Either way, a very nice selection of desktop backgrounds here with some easy cropping in your favorite photo editor.

Thanks, Google. You can contact me in regards to my ad check.

XKCD gets even cooler

The creator of famed web comic XKCD may just win the entire internetz one day. Not only does he have the nerdiest web comic ever, he struck pure gold with his comparison websites.

Learn what the best, funniest, fairest, and cutest thing ever is by venturing to their respective websites, giving a few votes of your own, then reading the respective top lists to learn what really is the Best Thing Ever.

For the record, the current best thing ever: being outside at night in the perfect temperature. Can't argue with that much...

Proof I am going to Hell

Just figured I would keep with my trend today....

Funniest blooper of all time:

Sesame Street from Hell

Yes, this is a blatant ripoff from a Digg comment stream, but damn is it funny. First, it seems everyone's favorite cookie monster is suffering a relapse.

If you think that is really unsettling (it is) but mildly creative and funny, wait until you see Tickle Me Elmo (on of my favorite toys ever by the way) on fire!!!