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 |
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