Non-Flash Links At Bottom Of Page

Malik (2/2/09)

Football is now over for the next seven-ish months. Yes, there's still the Pro-Bowl, but that's not really about football. It's more about players getting a weeklong vacation in Hawaii, assuming they can tolerate a couple hours of work. I mean there's nothing to gain for the game (unlike the home field advantage of the MLB All Star Game or the media circus of the NBA All Star festivities). It is a game with no real purpose, leaving football done until September.

The Super Bowl was pretty bad this year. On one hand, it was the division rival and the big time rival of the Seahawks playing each other, so I was torn on who I hated the most (the Steelers still do claim that position of dishonor). It was also a very poorly played game with plenty of controversial calls...at least in my eyes. It wasn't until the final quarter that the game was anything more than a slow paced exercise in futility for either team. In fact, the play calling alone made the game painful to watch.

I was hoping the Steelers would end up losing by 4 points. Why? Well, I wanted them to lose, but after that dumb play call on fourth and goal to start the game (following Big Ben's TD being challenged and overturned), they deserved to lose by the four points they managed to not go for. If you're on fourth and goal with only a foot to go, you should grow some balls and go for it. Worst case scenario, you get another chance, immediately after the play, to force an easy safety. In other words, you almost have a guarantee of two points (a loss of only one versus a field goal) and a damned good shot at the full seven. To call for a FG shows how much disrespect and distrust a coach has for both his offense and defense.

Anyway, the only really interesting part of this poorly handled game was the commercials...and even they were pretty sad this year. The only thing that could lower my rage after watching this game was knowing that the silly fluff of Puppy Bowl V was on Animal Planet. I think Puppy Bowl is a requirement to watch after the Super Bowl, because no matter what level of disappointment you feel, this will relieve some of those emotions in a hurry. It's hard to be sad or angry when you watch puppies playing pointlessly.

I also managed to watch Taken yesterday before the game. I will not go into too much detail, but I'll say a few things about this movie. For one thing, it's the most fun I've had from a January release since...maybe ever. It's just non-stop action and fighting in a perfectly sized hour and a half long package. Best of all, any movie that could have just been called "Liam Neeson Will Kill You" is a good ride. I mean that's the movie in a nut shell. It's Neeson in total brutal glory for ninety minutes. There may be a plot in there somewhere, but that's no important. The only thing that matters in this movie is how many people will he kill in the next scene and who will get the Mortal Kombat style fatality.

A couple of my friends didn't catch the movie yet, and I'm hoping they go to see it soon. This is one of the rare movies that I want to watch again almost immediately after seeing it the first time.

Malik

Malik (2/4/09)

I tried out all of the new songs that count (read: all but the Nikko/Nickelodeon crap) on Rock Band. I have to say I'm surprised and not so surprised.

Just playing expert guitar, I was surprised how difficult Precious (The Pretenders) is. It's not anything that will destroy a person who can handle most expert guitar songs, but it will present a lot of combo breakers. Especially this is true if you fail to warm up ahead of time and meet the fast speed of this song without being prepared. It's a lot of single notes alternating with chords. When you throw in a faster than expected tempo, there's...well, I have a lot of room to improve.

I'm not surprised by the Thin Lizzy pack and Hit Me With Your Best Shot. All four of these songs are just like I'd expect, but still tricky enough to leave a good shot of not getting 100% on a sight read. However, the most important thing that wasn't a surprise is that these songs are all a lot of fun. Definitely party songs if you catch my meaning. They are well known examples of classic rock that can get a crowd going in no time.

Since I'm fighting some sort of bug, I'll stop posting here. It's taking too much focus to type anything and I think I'd be better not forcing words to the screen without any sense of what I'm conveying.

Malik

Malik (2/5/09)

I have not been playing games much lately. I did get those RB songs on Tuesday, but beyond playing just those five songs, I have not touched a game system since I finished Valkyria Chronicles this last weekend.

It's not as if I have nothing to play. There's always something to play when you have online access to LittleBigPlanet. Also, I still have Uncharted ready to go (even with updates), but it still hasn't been touched. I'm not sure what is going on with me lately, but I just don't feel the need to play anything.

If anything, it's because of a cross of both playing real guitar too much lately and, having finished VC, I feel like I earned a game vacation. I'll probably aim to correct this tonight by playing, at long last, Uncharted. However, it's hard to say what will really happen when you just don't feel motivated to put a piece of plastic in your hands against your will.

On a final note, this may be seen as unfunny by some, but I can't help but think people are just too uptight. If you cannot laugh at something like this, then it's either because your job is forcing you to not laugh (if you work for the DOT in some form), or you just need to relax a little and enjoy life. I know I'd be laughing my ass off if these signs appeared around Seattle.   And when I say "these signs", I mean the cool ones (Zombies and Raptors).

Malik

Malik (2/6/09)

It will be another short post today. I don't know what is with my mind this week, but I think it's rebelling. My brain just refuses to focus on anything geek. Skipping the five songs I've played on Tuesday on Rock Band 2, I have not touched a game system since last weekend. I just cannot find the brain power to do anything beyond watch bad TV. Blah. Maybe I just needed this week of "geek vacation".

Anyway, the RB DLC for next week is a little less impressive than last week. It's three songs (in pack form) from The Fratellis. Since I don't know shit about this band (at least from the name...maybe I know them as "oh, that group") I will reserve judgment. I mean the worst possible attitude, and what the interwebs is flooded with, is "I don't know it so it sucks".

Anyway, it's three songs for $5.50. In other words, $2 per song, with a $0.50 discount on the pack.

While I can't complain after the last month or so being classic nostalgic awesomeness, I can make one semi-complaint like statement. I really want Texas Flood already. I wonder if this album is going the way of Who's Next and will forever be mentioned, but will eventually maybe be replaced with a mega-pack of SRV.

Malik

TopDepo.com

For Those Who Don't Have Flash Plug-Ins...

Rested XP    News    Reviews    Videos    Features    Forums    Archives    Search This Site    Links    Contact Us    Disclaimer

Non-Flash Links At Bottom Of Page