Malik
(10/6/08)
I will watch a Seahawk game, no matter what. If I'm away from a TV,
for whatever unexpected reason, I will then have the radio on to the
game and try to be at a computer to see a little extra information.
This didn't hold up yesterday.
About 10 minutes into the second quarter, I flipped channels and
watched some anime with Velveta. When that one show was done, I
flipped back. Afterall, the second half would be when the Seahawks
would find their momentum. It may be a loss of a game, but it would
become interesting after the second half started...at least that's
the theory.
A few minutes into the second half, I had to call it quits. I just
up and left my house and did some errands that needed to be ran.
Afterall, I couldn't stand to watch what would quickly become one of
the most lopsided defeats in Seattle history. The team that was now
whole after it's bye week saw the return of Engram, Branch, Seneca
Wallace, Koren Robinson (in theory...which didn't pan out), and a
true sense of team cohesion...at least that was the idea. 44-6 says
otherwise.
On the bright side, the Pats beat the 49ers, which kept them only
half a game ahead of the Seahawks. However, with Arizona blowing out
the Bills (who made the Seahawks look like chumps in the first week
of the season), first place is now 1.5 games away from Seattle. It
also will not look much better next week when Seattle hosts the
Packers (possibly without Branch...due to
another injury in this glass receiver). The season may not be
over yet, but I think it's safe to say that Holmgren's legacy would
have looked better if he just called it quits one year earlier.
Malik |
Malik
(10/8/08)
Despite some drama
existing on the new DLC (being the whole mess on how
the Offspring Pack didn't appear due to a Microsoft error), it
all came along in the end. So, for once, I actually dived in
yesterday without delay. Well, without anymore delay than wanting to
watch some of the debate last night before rocking.
I went ahead and
downloaded all the songs available from yesterday, with the sole
exception being Push It from Static-X. That song just sounds too
much like crap (or maybe it's about sitting on the toilet needing to
take a crap..."PUSH IT!"). The rest of the songs are all somewhat
fun on expert guitar. None of them standout for their fun factor,
but none of them stand out as being absolutely no fun to play.
The big theme in
the DLC from yesterday is the theme of moving chords. Harvey Danger
saw some fast shifting of three note chords, Bad to the Bone is a
festival of changing chords (especially in it's primary blues riff),
and most of the Offspring songs saw quick chord changes. The sole
exception for the Offspring songs was Gone Away (which feels
slightly over charted to this amateur real guitar player...in the
same way Blitzkrieg Bop is over charted with a false quick triplet
in the chorus).
The main theme
from the news songs, however, seems to be that these are all group
songs. Which is to say that they are probably at their best being
played as a whole band. There are fun songs with primarily
simplistic parts across the board that come out strong when joined
together.
Actually, one song
stands out on guitar. The Screaming Trees song is incredibly
different than I expected. It's not hard to pass the song, but it
feels quite challenging to keep any real combo going. With so many
rapid chord changes in the verses, it is a bit of a workout for your
coordination.
Anyway, I feel
good knowing that it was another week of a lot of new tracks, and
even better with most of the tracks being geared towards a wide
variety of musical genres. Everything from classic rock (Free;
Alright Now) to punk (Offspring and Against Me), to
alternative/grunge (Screaming Trees), to blues rock (Bad to the
Bone). It's a good week no matter where your musical loyalties lie.
Malik |
Malik
(10/9/08)
Not much to post
today since I'm feeling a bit crappy (too much fake frozen Mexican
food last night...uhhhhh) and haven't been doing much worthy of
discussion. Add in feeling hung over from inappropriate chemical use
at my day job (which is quite dangerous...a sarcastic "thank you" to
the idiot who doesn't feel proper safety or consideration towards
others is needed in a chemical rich environment like a biological
research lab), and I'm flat-out wiped.
My only real game
or geek time lately has been grinding for the final boss in Tales of
Vesperia. I still do need to end this game so I can be ready for
Fable 2. Anyway, I am grinding for the final boss since I have it
set to be a three boss fight (with the third one being legendary for
cheapness on ToV message boards). However, I can feel better about
my dreaded RPG convention of grinding. I may be grinding levels, but
I'm also trying to max out cooking abilities on Estelle to beat the
cooking side quest. This lets me feel less like I'm grinding any
more like I'm just gaining levels while working towards a better
non-grind goal.
Once I'm done with
the cooking side quest, I feel I'll be ready to face the final boss.
So, it should be all good in the end. I just now have to do the
tedious thing in fighting a bunch of enemies in the final dungeon,
cook after each fight, and run back to a fully stocked town after a
few dozen fights to purchase more ingredients for cooking.
Also, on a
different note, tomorrow is when we should hear, at least according
to the PR people for Motley Crue, that Dr. Feelgood (the album) is
coming out on Tuesday for Rock Band. Considering who said this and
what various bands and band PR/management folks have said in the
past about future DLC, I do not believe it. In fact, I think we
would have heard something about this since Harmonix has been good
on announcing whole albums in a very timely manner long before they
are released as DLC.
My prediction for
tomorrow's DLC announcement? Not Motley Crue. I would not be
surprised to see a whole album, but it would be Texas Flood, Colour
and the Shape, the pseudo-No Doubt album, or the Jane's Addiction
album. Motley Crue? Not happening this next week. I'm as certain of
it as I am certain of the outcome of Sunday's Seahawk game (loss).
Malik |
Malik
(10/10/08)
My long standing
feud continues. I've had a love-hate relationship with Comcast since
they first entered my life (after AT&T Broadband was taken into the
Comcast family in the Pacific Northwest). They do supply me with TV
and internet, so that's a "love" thing. However, their prices keep
going upwards each year far quicker than inflation would believe us
to think is logical (they are trying to out price their best
customers). Worst of all, their quality of both service and customer
relations keeps going lower each year.
They have changed
their cable box UI on several occasions. Each time has left me
wanting more of the old and less of the new. I have had one service
rep, on the phone, tell me I "can quit using our service at any
time", and not as a reminder that they have no contracts...if you
catch my meaning.
Another round of
this battle of good (well, I'm somewhat "good") and evil (yes, I
feel Comcast is evil-castic in their buzz pseudo-word) was waged
this week. I am signed up to change some of my service like quicker
internet (supposedly...their speeds never match the posted speed of
the service), a couple more cable boxes (supposedly without a change
in my cost), and a phone line I'll never use (don't even ask).
Overall, it's a change for the worse, since I'll have more things to
trust Comcast to f$#@ up, but it's also a change I, for some reason,
want.
Yesterday, to the
annoyance of my boss, I left work about 35 minutes early to be home
for the cable guy. I sat around waiting. I remained waiting.
Eventually, near the end of my appointment window, the door bell
rings. The Comcast field tech who shows up looks astonished that I'm
home. Apparently, one of their techs came over earlier and decided
that my house must be from the 19th century. In other words, despite
having two door bells that alert me to a visitor no matter where I
am in my house (add in a dog that gets excited from door bells and
it's an even better notice), the first tech must have only knocked
on my door. That alerts me to a visitor, if I'm right next to the
front door (which is not my usual hang out spot in my home).
Shortly after this
"second" field tech shows up, he asks me about a security alarm on
my house. Apparently, it was not on my service order, and he's not
allowed to work on a house with an alarm. In many houses, an alarm
is hooked up to a land phone line in the house. I don't have a phone
service in the house (it's a cell friendly world afterall), and my
alarm service is not in any way related to any Comcast service nor
is it related to any of the proposed to be installed services (my
alarm is tied to my cell). This logic doesn't work in Comcast world,
so after leaving work early (and being chewed out about it by my
boss), sitting around for about 2 hours with nothing to do (I really
wanted to play with my dog...outside...away from hearing my door
bell), and dealing with a frustrated dog (who wanted to get outside
and have fun), my appointment had to be rescheduled. Not only is
this annoying and a waste of my time, I learn the soonest an
alarm-friendly tech can get out to my home will be a week from
yesterday.
Now that was Crap-Castic!
If it was not for having contracts involved, I would jump to the
satellite world in a heart beat. I have hated Comcast for too many
years (about 5 years) and their service is comparable to the
satellite service. In fact, my dream is for Verizon to buy out Qwest
(local phone provider; for the knowledge of those outside of this
region of the US) and install FiOS. High speed internet, quality TV
services, and all that fun jazz, but over a more reliable company
and service format. However, as of right now, only a small area
about 40 minutes from my home has FiOS right now and there appears
to be no plans for expansion. Sigh...
Anyway, enough of
my lifelong hatred of a company that has done no net good in my
life. The
Rock Band DLC for this week is a surprise to me. For once, a
band was telling the truth on a release date for their own material.
More than that, an album has come without being previously announced
by Harmonix.
Yes, for $2 per
song, or $16 for the album ($4 savings or two free songs if you go
the whole album route), it's Dr. Feelgood. I admit it, I was wrong.
Speaking of which, couldn't some Social D come to DLC about now?
Especially with just an album and no side/extra loose tracks. Hell,
couldn't we just have some extra loose tracks from any artist to go
with this album? I mean Doolittle saw Weezer with it.
Anyway, I am white
trash (born and raised...but not proudly admitting the fact), and I
grew up on some of this stuff. Despite my tastes changing with time,
I may have to at least get Kickstart My Heart and Dr. Feelgood,
assuming the charts are solid, just for shits and giggles. I mean
you can take this geek out of the white trash, but...you know the
rest.
Hopefully we see
some more variety in the future, like we did this week. Afterall,
this week really showed what Harmonix can do with variety on tracks.
Malik |
|
For Those Who Don't
Have Flash Plug-Ins...
Rested
XP News
Reviews
Videos Features
Forums
Archives Search
This Site Links
Contact Us Disclaimer
|
|
|