I Love My Wife

As I sit here in the waiting room while Rhea has her cerclage, I can't help but think about how lucky I am to have her. I honestly don't deserve someone as awesome as she is. I could never tell or show her how much I appreciate her and love her.

Winstar...FTW?!

We took a trip to Winstar Casino yesterday for Alana's 24th birthday celebration. I lost $40 pretty quick, but then won $20 and ended up with $15. Still left with less than I came with, but oh well. We had fun and tore up the buffet. Good times...good times...

We're Pregnant!

Now that Christmas is over and we've told our parents, I can now let the cat out of the bag to the rest of the world.

My wife, Rhea, is pregnant!!!

She's about 13 weeks along. We got our sonogram last week, which explains this tweet. We don't know what the sex is yet, but hopefully soon.

We gave our parents a framed copy of this picture for Christmas. That's how we told them. It was pretty awesome!

Christmas 2008 Slideshow

Dead Space's Sphincter

The leviathan in Dead Space has brought me to a complete stop in the game. I've tried killing that damn asshole more times than I can count, with each time taking roughly 15 minutes or more. It's ridiculous how difficult this boss is.

The problem is the lack of ammo mostly. Once I run out I just circle that area hoping to find something. Then I eventually get pounded by one of those tendrils and die.

Good times...

My opinion of the game is still overwhelmingly positive, but this has really thrown a wet blanket on the experience. I've ignored just about every other game (including City Folk) because I want to make it through Dead Space.

Marley And Me?

I came across a story about the movie Marley and Me this weekend that totally blew me away. Up until Sunday, we wanted to see this movie based solely on the fact that it looks like a fun dog movie and as you may or may not know, we are dog people through and through.

According to the story and subsequent research we've done, the story of Marley is not a happy one. It is, but there comes a point in the movie (SPOILER) that they have to put the dog to sleep. Not to mention that the Screen Crave story also mentions a baby that doesn't have a heartbeat.

I honestly don't think I could watch this movie. I fell apart during I Am Legend, and I don't think that death scene was shot in a tearjerker way like I'm sure the one in Marley and Me is.

Plus, I don't want to be in a movie theater crying uncontrollably while trying to manage those damn movie theater stairs.

Best News EVAR!

This is why I will never regret my decision to buy Rock Band instead of Guitar Hero.

Ten will be released as DLC on March 24th to coincide with the re-release of the album. I'm so damn excited for this it's not even funny. I want to get the full re-release package that's like $140, but I don't know if that's in the proverbial cards. If nothing else I will get the least expensive one and orgasm all over it!

Speaking of orgasming all over your self, I saw the new Wolverine trailer today and it's fucking spectacular! Fabulous even! It really looks like their going to do his origin justice. I spotted a lot of different characters in the trailer, including Wraith, Mariko, and possibly Maverick. Not to mention Gambit and Sabertooth. It's going to be awesome!

X-MEN ORIGINS: WOLVERINE HD

Video Mish Mash

I've come across a few videos yesterday and last night that I want to share. One is of the new Terminator Salvation trailer. It looks bad ass! One is a Walker: Texas Ranger clip with a kid that is infected with a serious disease. And by serious, I mean hilarious! And the last one is one of the saddest things I've ever seen. This poor kid gets what he thinks is a Xbox 360 for Christmas. Unfortunately, his parents have filled the box with clothes. Totally fucked up. Enjoy!






The Worst Parents In The World - Watch more Entertainment

Weekend Fun

This damn cold sucks. I started feeling crappy on Saturday. I'm just tired and sleepy. Sucks.

Anyway, we went and visited Ethan on Friday. Three years since he passed. It still hurts, which is actually good. I don't want to ever forget that little boy. My precious boy.

Christmas is coming pretty quick it seems. I've still got to buy for my mom and sister. I have no idea what to get my mom, so I'll probably go the gift card route. Alana is easier, especially since she made an Amazon wishlist. But, I think I'll go off the list and get her something else.

I'm still working through Dead Space, although it's getting harder. I'm low on ammo and trying to get passed some monster that regenerates. It sucks, but when I get passed it, I will feel so good. Maybe not this good, but good.

Later.

They Keep Pulling Me Back In!

I hate Kohls. Well, that's not exactly true. I don't hate the store itself. I hate some of the people that work there. You know what I hate more than them? I hate being put on the spot. Let me explain.

I worked overnight Monday night. Then I worked at my day job until 8:30 p.m. on Tuesday. Then, I came home and the stuff with Buttercup happened, so I didn't get a ton of sleep. Then I found out I had to work late at my day job again for testing even though I was scheduled at Kohls. Of course, my day job takes priority, so I called Kohls and told them I won't be in. This is where everything goes sideways.

The guy I talked to is a huge douchebag. He's the type that's married to the store. He stays late and goes above and beyond. A real cock smoker. Anyway, he proceeds to tell me how late he'll be there, so when I'm done at my other job I can still come in. I'm to call him later and update him. Thanks, douchenozzle. I gave you the opportunity to call someone in to cover for my shift, but instead you want to make me jump through hoops because you're too hopped up on Mountain Dew and (probably) meth that you can't think straight.

So, I call him back around 10:30 p.m. to let him know that I just got done and still won't be in because I haven't had any sleep and if I work overnight, I will be a zombie at my day job.

I was almost out. I could see the light at the end of the tunnel. But no...

"When do you work next?"
"Saturday", I say.
"Can you work on Thursday? I'm losing people like flies."
"uh...um...ok."
"Great! See you Thursday."

And I'm boned. What the hell do you say? I was caught completely off guard. You know how you always try to anticipate what the other person will say on calls like that? I mean, before you call you go through the scenarios in your mind so you have something on deck to respond with. That was not one of the scenarios I went through.

And you know the longer you sit there and uh and um the more they know you're trying to think of an excuse. And for some reason, it's not acceptable to tell the complete and total truth in those situations.

"Can you work on Thursday?"
"Honestly, I would rather cut my dick off with a rusty coat hanger."
"Ok, see you Saturday!"

For some reason, I don't think that would fly.

Bad Times...

I got the awesome news yesterday that I'm getting a 10% pay decrease from my contracting company. It's a great Christmas present. One that I will remember for years to come!

After I got home, our dachshund Buttercup pooped out some blood. We were really worried about her. I looked it up and it seems to be something that happens. Still, I'm worried about her. If it happens again I'm going to take her to the vet.

My friend Angie at work says it has happened to her dogs, too. Mostly due to nervousness or something they ate.

So anyway, yesterday rocked.

How are you?

K.K. Slider Plush

Since learning of its existence, I've been wanting to get one of these cute little plush K.K. Sliders. I found a couple sites that have them. They are coming from The Orient, so I can only assume they will be stuffed with hash or possibly children.

Find them here and here.

Dead Space

The only big Black Friday deal I partook in this year was at Target. I ran by there and grabbed me a copy of Dead Space for $30. Sweet merciful crap I love a game at half price!

That brings me to my first question. Why the hell aren't all games priced at thirty bucks? Hell, why aren't they just forty bucks?! I would be able to buy so many more titles. I understand the economics, so you don't have to explain that. I just think that if a game came out and was less expensive (but still a good game) then more people would buy it, therefore making just as much money for the company. It's just my wishful thinking, though. It will never happen. Dare to dream, I say. Dare to dream.

By the way, does Big Black Friday sound like it could be a porno? Just wondering...

Anyway, Dead Space is friggin' awesome! I had heard a lot of good things and so far it's lived up to the hype. I did get stuck early on in what can only be described as a *FACEPALM* moment on my part, but otherwise I'm cruising through and loving it.

Thanksgiving

Yesterday was Thanksgiving. Not sure why I needed to actually tell you that, but now you know. I was thinking about what I'm thankful for this year since that's what you do when you're stuffed with turkey and...well...stuffing. So, without any more puns, here is what I'm thankful for.

• My beautiful wife
• My handsome son
• My awesome sister
• My mom and dad
• The girls
• Losing weight
• Still having a job
• Bikini Beat

Life is pretty good.

Streaming Netflix

Damn. Has it really been five days since my last post? I've stared at this screen on more than one occasion in the last five days and just been blank.

Still kinda blank.

I've been watching a bunch of stuff on my 360 via Netflix. I watched Waterworld, Red Dawn, Team America World Police, and some old Voltron episodes.

By the way, how awesome was Voltron?

Avatar Schmavatar

avatar-body
Originally uploaded by Gemini Ace

So I created my NXE avatar. It looked stupid. So I created another one. It was gay. So I made this one.

The avatar creation thing is not very deep. There aren't as many options as you get on the Wii when you create a Mii.

The whole NXE thing is a little underwhelming. It looks good, but I haven't found it to be a quantum leap forward. Of course, I haven't browse the marketplace yet.

The Netflix feature, on the other hand, is amazing. It works incredibly well with nary a hiccup in sight. I worked from home yesterday. While I worked I queued up The Crow City of Angels, Red Dawn, and Superman/Doomsday. I also threw in an episode of Voltron for good measure. Awesome!

Bad Service Great Food

As everyone knows, Buffalo Wild Wings has $.40 wings on Tuesday. It's tough to resist, especially given the fact that they have my favorite flavor of anything there, mango habanero. It's so good I would slather it on a brick and eat it. I've actually made the comment to Rhea that I would put it on my wang and attempt to lick it off. That wouldn't hurt at all, would it?

Anyway, the only problem with BWW is the service. We've gone there quite a bit since we discovered the place and I can honestly say that we've had good service maybe twice.

Last night continued our streak of bad service. It was almost novelty bad. I mean, we sat there for a good 10 minutes before I decided to flag down a waitress to take our drink order. The funny thing is, she was our waitress. So, she finally came back and took our order. Then the wait began.

We literally sat there and watched people all around us that came in AFTER us get their food, pay, and leave. After like 30 minutes of this I flagged down a guy that looked managerial and told him that we had been waiting for a long time. Of course we find out that she's new. Maybe you should be on top of her then instead of letting her ruin the experience of every table she waits on.

Anyway, we finally got our delicious wings. He also gave us 50% off, so that helped.

What I think is funny is that no matter how bad the service is there we keep coming back. I guess that's a testament to how good the wings are. And that says nothing about the fiery after effects in the bathroom the morning after.

Left 4 Dud

I got to try the Left 4 Dead demo when I was over at Alana's on Friday. I came away disappointed. One because you can only play 2 player split screen (and we know I hate that), and two because the game just wasn't that fun.

I didn't really feel a sense of urgency while I played. I didn't think the weapons felt very effective. I also didn't feel that the zombie horde was that scary. I'm not even sure you can die completely. I got vomited on by that fat zombie and got swarmed, but I didn't die. I just waited for it to wear off while I peppered them with my shotgun.

I really thought this was going to be the game to beat this holiday season, but instead I found it's just a slightly better version of The Club.

So Much To Say

Man, where to begin. Do I bitch about the annoying people that I come across every day? Do I talk about the podcast? Do I just rant about miscellaneous stuff, like why miscellaneous is so hard to spell? How about all of the above!

So, what is it with people that just blindly do what they're told? I don't understand. If you know that what you're being told to do is A)wrong or B)stupid or C)coming from someone who isn't qualified to manage his own Mountain Dew intake. What drives me insane is people that don't even question shit. I'm sorry, but I'm an adult (supposedly) and I can make my own decisions. If you're telling me to do something that's obviously retarded, I'm going to do what I know needs to be done. Of course, the person I'm talking about is extremely religious, so I think that pretty much explains the whole thing. Personally, I think Jesus would want the ad to get done.

Anyway, we got episode 60 of the podcast done on Friday. We gave away a copy of City Folk and touched on our initial impressions. And Val Kilmer. Funny shit, go listen.



So, what is the deal with miscellaneous? Why does it have to be so long? And what's up with the two l's? I mean, how crazy is that? And the eous? That doesn't get confusing at all!

Jon Lajoie

This guy is fucking brilliant. I love his videos. Makes me lol all over myself.

Wasting Away

I weighed this morning and found I've lost another 4 pounds. That's a grand total of 19 pounds in the few weeks that I've been dieting. Thank you, SlimFast!

And contrary to what you probably think, that picture is not of me. I'm way hotter. And my crank is the size of a python eating a really fat possum.

Missing Game Requirements

I was able to go to Alana's house and play some Gears 2 yesterday. Horde mode is fun and frustrating. I liked it a lot, but I probably won't be getting it until at least Christmas.

One thing we did notice when we sat down to play was the 2-player limit on co-op play. The game won't even let you have a third gamertag signed in. It warns you that you can't have more than 2 tags signed in and you have to sign the third one out to even continue. Bullshit.

The fact that there is no 4-player split screen in Gears 2 made me think of some of the other games that have glaring omissions. Features that should be required in all games this generation.

The first game to come to mind that was missing a required feature is Call of Duty 4. The first time the three of us tried to play some online deathmatches, we realized that two people can't play online on the same Xbox 360. WTF?! It boggles my mind that Halo 2 on the original Xbox featured 4-player split screen over Xbox Live, yet Call of Duty 4 limited you to one player per box. Ridiculous!

Another game that I've really been a hater of is Burnout Paradise. Now, I've been playing it on the PS3 and I have to take back a lot of the hate I've spewed about the game. That being said, I still hate the fact that you can't automatically re-start an event or jump to races. It's obviously a concious decision by the developer, but at what point do you just give us what we want? It's really the only thing holding this game back from greatness, in my opinion.

And, of course, the afformentioned Gears of War 2. I cannot get over the fact that a AAA title like Gears can't manage to include 4-player horde mode on the same console. We have had four player split screen since the N64 days. Yes, it wasn't co-op, but it still worked just fine. And if that's not enough, Halo 2 and 3 has 4-player split screen with zero issues.

I really think that these missing features boil down to nothing more than developer decisions. Basically, it's not an issue of console power or coding prowess. The devs made the decision to not put these features in the game. In the case of CoD4 and Gears 2, it smacks of the dev wanting you to go out and buy another console and another copy of the game if you want to play with more than one or two people in the same place.

What really hits this home for me is the fact that Forza 2 came with a mode that allowed you to to use three screens, three Xbox 360's, and three copies of the game to play across the three screens. Maybe .001% of people will ever use this feature, but it's there.

So, tell me again why Gears 2 doesn't have 4-player split screen?

Back To The Funny

I took a couple days off from my last post because I didn't really have much to say. Well, that's not exactly true. I typed up a little something yesterday about some political stuff, but decided to just leave it unpublished. I'm going to get back to funny Gemini, not asshole Gemini. Although some would say that funny Gemini is a myth, much like the female g-spot. And you know what? That hurts a little.

We worked at Kohl's last night. I came across a sweet Gears of War hat. I think I'm gonna get it.

We have a new girl up there lately. She is an interesting chick. And I use the term chick loosely. Seriously, I'm not a fashionista. My idea of hot apparel is basketball shorts and a t-shirt with Spider-Man on it. But, some people just have zero ability to dress themselves in any sort of style that relates to their gender or age.

Basically, the two times she's worked, she's worn men's jeans and a t-shirt with a wolf or tiger on it. Very 50-year old lesbian-ish. I mean, to own those type of shirts you either have to be in like 6th grade or in a committed, sexless relationship with a jean-shorts wearing lesbian. There's not really any middle ground there.

The funny thing is, she had moved away with this guy she was in love with. That begs the question, what does this guy look like?! I mean, you have to be a pretty dorky guy to look at the giant tiger t-shirt and Levi's and go, "I'd hit it".

But, I don't mean to be a hater. Some people just don't know. Anybody that looks at me probably thinks the same thing.

Why I'm Not Voting

I don't understand the compulsion that everyone has to go out and vote today. I've voted once in my life and I'm certain it made no difference whatsoever. Now, all of the sudden, everyone is freaking out because this election is so important.

Is it?

What will really change in my daily life as a result of who is president? Will my bank account increase overnight, or worse, decrease? Will I suddenly be thinner, fatter, happier, stupider, angrier, faster, stronger, more/less likable? Will my daily commute be shorter? Will I get a bigger cubicle at work, or possibly a secretary? Will Rhea suddenly learn a foreign language and start reading for the blind? Will we be shot into space in order to study zero gravity sex? Will our phones get more bars in more areas? Will our credit score change? Will I find a new respect for the homeless? Will I begin each sentence with "According to Obama"? Will I require fewer visits to the dentist? Will my farts smell better? Will I not need to buy Christmas presents for my family? Will food taste better? Will I realize that I'm really good at Scene It?

It's ridiculous to think that something like will change your life on anything other than a mental level. You still have to go to work. You still have to pay your bills. You still have to raise your kids. There is nothing that McCain or Obama are going to do to change that. You still have to worry about the same shit you worried about yesterday.

So I say fuck it. Who ever they announce as the next president will be just some asshole that has his own agenda. He will have said whatever it took to get elected. The promises mean nothing once they're actually in office, so why get all worked up? It's a waste of energy. Energy that could be spent doing something that actually matters, like paying your bills or teaching your kid the difference between right and wrong.

"A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves money from the public treasure. From that moment on the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most money from the public treasury, with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy followed by a dictatorship.

The average age of the world's great civilizations has been two hundred years. These nations have progressed through the following sequence: from bondage to spiritual faith, from spiritual faith to great courage, from courage to liberty, from liberty to abundance, from abundance to selfishness, from selfishness to complacency from complacency to apathy, from apathy to dependency, from dependency back to bondage."

Alexander Tyler

Scares And Repairs

It was a busy weekend. As you know, my 360 was in the process of dying. I called Xbox support on Saturday. As I was told by a twitter buddy, once I mentioned the red rings, the replacement process was automatic. Just verify that your power supply has a green light and done. The support guy was awfully chatty with his Canadian accent. Anyway, I will be sending it in this week.

I also dropped my truck off to have it fixed today. Got a nice rental car. Not much else to say about that...

Anyway, I decided that I wanted a scary movie for Halloween. I put The Shining in my Netflix queue and got it on Friday. I should have chosen something a little more recent.

The movie was creepy, but not scary. I understand that back when it came out it was considered the scariest thing ever, but by today's standards it's pretty weak.

Red Ring Of Death

Red ring of death
Originally uploaded by Gemini Ace

I get home yesterday and have the house all to myself, so you know what that means. No, not porn and kleenex. Games!

I borrowed a few games from Alana and figured I would start slogging through them. Plus, I like the juxtaposition of playing a game like Jumper while everyone else is playing Fallout 3 or Fable 2. Gives me a couple of lulz, which is what I generally go for.

Anyway, I threw in Jumper and it froze at the title screen. When I restarted my 360, it gave me the Red Ring of Death. I, of course, said "shit". I tried restarting again and the same thing. So, I popped the disc out and my 360 booted just fine.

So, I decided to try Hellboy. Well, I got past the title screen, but not by much. I didn't get a red ring when I restarted, so I figured I would try a game that I knew worked. I spun up Halo 3 and it worked fine in matchmaking. I was shooting somebody in Cold Storage when it froze on me. Not good.

I guess my only option is to get it to red ring consistently so I can call Xbox support and get it replaced. The three year warranty is almost up, so I'm going to have to get it done quick. Otherwise I may be S.O.L. for a while.

At least I have my beloved PS3. Oh, and my Wii.

Excitement Is Building!

Yesterday was pretty cool. Aside from the fact that I had to work overnight, everything else was awesome. I can't talk about all of it here because it's personal. I'm sure you're asking yourself, "then why have a blog if you're not going to spill the beans?", to which I answer "suck it!"

Anyway, the giveaway we're doing is going well. Quite a few entries have already come in, and we're only on day 3. I also got an e-mail from someone at Nintendo PR. They're going to send me an early copy of the game for review. You know, since I'm cool. I've never had that happen before, so I'm really excited.

I'm still hoping that NintendoWiiFanboy picks up the story so we can get that coverage. Our buddies at Platform Nation have graciously allowed me to post a story about the giveaway. I know it's not that big a deal for a podcast to give away a game, but it's a first for us, so back off willya!

Speed Racer And The Contest

We watched Speed Racer this weekend. Well, I watched it and Rhea fell asleep. Then I had a seizure and went to bed.

Now, I didn't hate the movie. The action and CGI were impressive. The fight scenes and other parts were pretty atrocious. Especially when they focused on Spritle and Chim Chim.

Honestly, I'm not sure how so many people can work on a movie and not realize it's going to be bad. But, like I said, the racing was pretty sweet. Not believable at all, but sweet.

Also, on the show, we're giving away a copy of the new Animal Crossing: City Folk game. You have to take a listen to the show and find out how to enter. It's a pretty funny episode if I do say so myself.

Meat Cuts

My wife and I were coming home from visiting Ethan and eating at Cozymel's when we passed a place called Knockouts. She told me it's a place where hot chicks cut your hair in bikinis. Kind of like a Hooters for hair. I immediately realized that I was in desperate need to get my herr did. She immediately hit me.

So anyway, I started thinking of a place like that, but for women. The guys would be hunky and wear a speedo or something. I'm not sure that women would flock to such a place, which makes it such an interesting dichotomy. I would go get my hair cut by a scantily clad chick and not even care if she had her barber's license or even a driver's license. Hell, she could be an illegal trying to make enough money to send back home so her family can have shoes.

I believe a place like this would live or die on its name. Of course, I have come up with a few.

• Meat Cuts
• Sack N' Shears
• Cock Cuts
• Banana Hammocks
• The Tea Bag Salon

And, just to show you that I can come up with some less penis-centric names...

• Trim
• Cut And Buns
• Blow And Go
• Pec Clips
  
• Shear Beefcake
  

Happy Birthday, Ethan!

Ethan would be three years old today. I love you son, and I miss you.

Christmas Wishlist

I've created my Amazon.com Christmas wishlist. I also accept cash.

Tipping The Stripper

I got to spend some time with my beloved Rock Band 2 this weekend, as well as Duke Nukem 3D. I have to thank the guys over at SFX-360.com for hooking me up with a code to download it. I wouldn't have paid for it, both because I don't have the points and because I'm still not buying XBLA games. Not sure if using a code goes against my boycott, but I think it's ok. ;-)

I made a little progress in Rock Band 2. I had to play that goddamn Tangled Up In Blue song by Bob Dylan. WTF is that doing in RB2?!

The Nirvana track pack is coming this week. I have 300 space points to spend on tracks, so that's almost 2 tracks worth! As long as I've been bitching about when these songs are coming, now I can't vote with my wallet and buy them all. I will when I get some points. Probably for Christmas.

We are starting our diet this week. I think we will do well. I'm going to the doctor this afternoon for a check up, so I will know my exact weight and where I'm starting.

Voting With Your Wallet

Does this actually work? I've been thinking about this a lot lately, wondering if it's actually effective. It occurs to me that it's pretty much a boolean type of thing. Either you buy something (yes) or you don't (no). The problem with this begins when you realize that one "yes" answer outweighs one"no".

For example, if a game ships based on a movie. The game sells a million copies. That is enough to prove to the publisher that it was a worthwhile investment and do it again. Meanwhile, several million of us ignored the game altogether. The fact that it sold that many means they made money and will shovel more of the same crap onto shelves.

The question then becomes, why do you care? If a million people bought something, then that's their loss. They're spending their own money for crap and who am I to complain, right?

What bothers me the most is the message this kind of thing sends to the content makers. All of the movie studios, record labels, and game publishers know that they can push out crap and it will sell. Then, of course, they decide that making X amount of money on this content isn't good enough. So they up the price. And it still sells. And they up the price. And so on...

The long and short of it is this. We as consumers should hold these people responsible for making high quality entertainment. And we should let them know that we're not willing to pay more for something just because they want fatter wallets. I want a fatter wallet, too. I also don't want to ever see another movie as bad as X-Men 3 or Epic Movie.

And this doesn't even begin to cover my issues with some of the DLC news that's come out lately. I will get back to you on that after I decide what I'm going to do.

Sex In The City

We watched the Sex and the City movie last night. I owed it to Rhea since we didn't see it in the theater. It was on Blu-Ray, so it was probably better than in the theater. At least that's what I'm telling myself to alleviate my guilt.

It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, but that doesn't mean my genitalia didn't run back up into my body like a frightened turtle. It was a lot longer than I expected considering it was about a bunch of chicks talking about their feelings. Oh who am I kidding. I'm surprised it wasn't four hours. Ba dum bum!

What concerns me is how the movie paints women and how they should react to things that happen in their relationships. Basically, as a woman, you should (spoiler alert):

• Forgive being left at the altar because, in the long run, you're not going to be able to find another man, so why try?
• Forgive your man for cheating on you because, in the long run, you're not going to be able to find another man, so why try?
• Leave the one guy that can stand your annoying ass just so you can bang a bunch of random guys. Classy!
• Wear the ugliest thing you can find. Match it with the second ugliest thing you can find. Put on some heels. Make sure your bra straps are showing. Go out on the town.

It's great that you gals should feel empowered to get out there and "have it your way", as it were. Bang away, I say. You should just be careful so you don't catch the AIDS. Or end up looking like Sarah Jessica Parker.

Playing Spore

So I'm up to the tribal section in Spore. Hasn't taken me very long to get there, either.

Making The Band

I finally landed on a new band name and now I can play challenges and make merch! My new band name is No Pants Till Monday. I think it's funny and representative of my desire to create not just an identity, but a brand.

I can see it all now. T-shirts, posters, shoes, Zunes, etc. All will be sold next to the small one-inch buttons we will create. They're gonna be huge...not size-wise, just in the terms of sales. And by sales I mean giving them out to homeless people.

Picking A Band Name

The story thus far is this...

I've tried to enter the challenges in Rock Band 2 with my band, VaJayJay 5000. The game tells me that I can't enter because my band name isn't "classy" enough. I say to myself (and everyone in earshot), "Fuck you, Harmonix. My band name is my identity and I will not be swayed!"

Fast forward a few weeks.

Now Harmonix has given us the ability to buy band merch like pictures, shirts, and even figures. Ok, so you got me. I'm willing to sell out my name...no, my very identity as a band. Where do I sign?

So this is how it feels to be a rock star.

So now the arduous task of picking a new band name. The qualifications are simple, yet extremely hard to fit. First, it has to be funny. I'm not a member of some serious rock outfit, here. We're all about fun and partying. And dick jokes. Second, it has to meet the criteria of "classy".

Shit.

Spore!

I got my copy of Spore on Saturday, courtesy of the GameHounds podcast. Installed it and made Landfall that night. So far I'm enjoying it a lot. I'm actually surprised how well my pc is handling it. I have a grade of 3, and the minimum requirements are a 3, so I figured it would be kinda sluggish. I've seen some pop up here and there, but nothing game killing. I'm just evolving my little Geminisis creature on the planet Vaginosis.

Friday

In my quest to try to post on my blog on a daily basis, I've been having trouble coming up with topics. That being said, how 'bout them Cowboys?

But seriously, this week has taken forever to get to Friday.

Peace out!

Twittelating Apps

I've been test driving a few of the Twitter apps that were recommended to me and I think I've picked my favorite.

I started out with Twitterific, which isn't that terrific. Nothing bad about it, but it just didn't stand out to me as the defacto app.

So, I loaded Twittelator, Twinkle, and TwitterFon. Twinkle was the early front runner because you could see people near you and what they were saying. The deal breaker was when I tried on multiple occaisions to send a picture with the app and was either kicked back to the "desktop" or given a server error. FAIL.

TwitterFon was good, but it doesn't have the added features like location and pictures. That leaves me with Twittelator which only has one issue. It only shows me so many tweets and won't load anymore. I'm sure this would be fixed by paying for the Pro version, and I might do that soon. Otherwise, everything works just as promised. Even pictures!

Idiots In The Workplace

I am blown away every day at some of the idiocy that I encounter here at the workplace. I think I've twittered (tweeted?) about the two guys up here that constantly burp and fart as loud as possible in their cubicles. They honestly have no regard for anyone around them. My buddy Dave drew a sketch of one of them when he used to work here. It's a fairly accurate depiction of the guy.

What really grinds my gears (hehe) is the fact that I'm sure he makes a lot more money than I do. I know he's probably got some fancy degree from some fancy college, but who cares? Does that excuse the complete lack of hygiene, manners, and respect?

Don't get me wrong, I'm a fan of the burping and farting. That's a staple of my comedy and I would be loathe to ever give it up, but I do that stuff at home...or at the store...or outside...or...

What I'm saying is I don't really understand: 1) how someone like that is able to make it through the interview and 2) how you actually get the job. Who offered these slobs a job?!

"Welcome aboard! As you can see, we place the trough within walking distance from the giant hole we all shit in. You'll be sitting here. We've replaced the cube walls with barn doors so you feel right at home. Someone will be by once a month to take you outside and hose you off."

Three Years

It's been 3 years to the day since I got the call that Rhea's water broke. It feels like forever, and it's flown by. Doesn't mean I don't think about him every day. He would be 3 on October 22nd.

Whiter Is Better!

I know what you're thinking, and no, this is not another racist tirade. I'll do one of those tomorrow.

We went on Friday to the Apple store and got our iPhones set up. I made an appointment online. We went in and they looked at us like we had feet for hands. They didn't know what form I filled out, but they were able to look it up. Once the kid started setting us up, that's when the fun really started.

We told him that we wanted a white 16Gig and a black 8Gig. Now, this would tell me that we each want a different iPhone. We're porting our numbers over, so therefore you might want to ask which number is going to which phone. Well, this is obviously not a question a Genius should ask, and we ended up with our numbers being on the wrong phones. Fail.

We also asked about the discount for Postal employees. Genius-boy said they can't do that there at the Apple store, and referred us to the AT&T store. Of course, he was able to take our money without a problem, which I'm sure is the most important part of the transaction. My satisfaction is secondary.

So, we ran by the AT&T store and they fixed us up quick. Got the SIM cards switched and the discount applied to our account without a hitch. We should have gone there in the first place, but I called at least 5 stores and couldn't find one with the 8Gig in stock. Of course, the AT&T store we ended up at had them in stock, but whatever!

One of the things I'm really excited about is getting back to scrobbling on Last.FM. It's so much better than the Zune Social. And it works! I feel bad for selling the Zune, but it's just not as good of a device. Even with the inclusion of Hexic.

We've been adding apps all weekend. The best ones so far are the Lightsaber, Cowbell, and Pour1Out apps. Totally worth buying a $300 iPhone!

The Hits Keep On Coming

We discovered yesterday that our dogs have fleas. Fortunately, they don't seem to be of the mutant, flesh eating variety. It's a pretty big deal nonetheless. We had to run to Wal-Mart and buy killer in spray, carpet powder, and shampoo variety. There is now a pile of laundry that needs to be done in hopes of killing the little bastards. The fleas, not the dogs. Yet.

When we're leaving to go buy all the flea destroyer, Rhea notices that some asshole has hit my truck. There's a nice dent in the passenger side where it looks like someone pulled in next to me and misjudged it completely.

We called the police and they came out and gave me a case number for my insurance. Now I get to deal with that. Wonderful!

On the joy side of things, we have an appointment with the Apple store today. I called around to all the AT&T stores looking for 8Gig iPhones, but they were out. The Apple store has "a handfull", so hopefully there's not a big run on them before we get there.

Twitterific!

You just never know what's going to blow up and what isn't. Most comments that are made on Twitter just float on by without so much as a second thought. Then, on rare occasions, a topic explodes and we're all posting 140 characters as fast as we can type them. It's one reason out of 100 that I love Twitter.

Other reasons would be the constant flow of tweets, the ability to send SMS from your phone, and the immediacy of it. Honestly, I don't think there are 100 reasons. Can I change that to 5?

Anyway, tomorrow is the day we're planning on going to the AT&T store and get our iPhones. Yes, even with the announcement of the G1, we are still going to make the switch. Honestly, the G1 doesn't look like anything more than a phone running Windows Mobile. It'll be open source, sure, but I'm not sure that will be able to compete with the app store.

Kohl's Smells

I worked last night at Kohls. It was pretty lame. I'm sure you're thinking "how can it be lame? It's a night job at fucking Kohls!", to which I would say "the people there stink. I mean literally, they smell."

I spent most of my night pondering the how's and why's as to the type of people that work strictly overnight jobs and, furthermore, why those same people tend to have body odor. The lack of bathing immediatly springs to mind. Is there some connection between sleeping all day and not showering? I usually shower before I go in. Makes me feel good to be clean and dingleberry free.

Anyway, I'm going to try to write something here on a daily basis. I imagine that this will last upwards of 2 days, but I'm going to go ahead and proclaim it anyway. I think it may help me hone my chops, as it were.

What is honing, anyway?

Writing Vs. Blogging

I don't fancy myself as much of a writer. As much as I like typing up a bunch of paragraphs, I don't know that I could ever do anything more than blog. I like posting news up at Platform Nation, but that always feels more like regurgitating the same stuff found elsewhere. The thing to do is find something original. Break something open. See something new that somebody missed.

I'm not sure what that means exactly, but it sounds really good. Of course, doing something like that takes a lot of time and commitment, something I'm not too keen on devoting. Not that I don't want to, but it would take away from other things in my life that are important. And I kind of like having my wife around.

I'm not sure what the point of this is, other than the fact that I'm bored. It's just that I look at shit on the internet, and sometimes it just feels like I'm reading the same story over and over. Joystiq posts something that X3F posted that came from Kotaku that came from an interview done by somebody at PAX.

Oversaturation much?

I guess that's why I like podcasting so much. I'm never sure where we're going to go with our show. It's open and loose. Like a hooker having a half-price sale.

If I were to try to write anything, it would have to be comedy. The problem is, writing doesn't feel as spontaneous as just talking. Plus, you don't have anyone to bounce off of. You just have the reader, who probably won't get the subtleties of your fart joke anyway.

Bottom line is, I wish I could record a lot of my day to day conversations. Or possibly have my own reality show where people watch my every move. They could see me work, twitter, drive, play games, and maybe even interact with real people. I'm thinking we bring in the real people in season 2. Let the watchers fall in love with me first. And believe me, they will fall in love.

Stay At Home Week?

Far from it. This week is gonna be pretty busy. At least I think it will be. Hell, who knows?

So, Friday we're planning on getting our iPhones. I really can't wait. I've been using my Dash for 2 years now and it's really showing its age. I have to delete text messages every few days because the memory is full. Drives me crazy!

Of course, as soon as we are planning on going to the AT&T store, the rumor starts that a 32GB iPhone might be coming. That's fucking awesome! So, do we wait? I'm thinking no. I've suffered long enough!

I really can't complain too much about my Dash. It's been a pretty solid little phone. I've had to replace the battery, but that's really it. I'm impressed with myself that I was able to use it for two years without getting the itch for a new phone (up until the 3G iPhone came out, that is).

I'm still wanting to get a new Xbox, but I'm going to put that off for a while. iPhone comes first! I snuck in some Rock Band 2 on Saturday and played The Club last night. I even downloaded the bike patch for Burnout Paradise. Fun was had. And beer.

Good times.

I've been listening to the new Metallica album. It's pretty good. I'm impressed. Doesn't make me want to buy it, but I will recommend it to anyone that wants a good, illegal download.

Speaking of good downloads, I listened to episode 34 of GameHounds this morning. They were giving away Spore, and I won! I'm so excited to get that game. I really hope it plays on my PC. The creature creator ran ok, so I'm hoping I have just power to give it a go. Thanks to Edie and Hawkes for giving it away. I'll make something with really big balls just for them.

Rock Band 2!

As you can see, I picked up Rock Band 2 this weekend. I decided to go to Walmart at midnight to grab it. Unfortunately, the first Walmart we went to didn't have it. Personally, I think they had it, but just didn't want to get it out for us. There were about 8 people there waiting, and we got the shaft.

I ended up staying up till about 4 a.m. playing and drinking some cold beers. Talk about good times!

At one point, I took a break and went to Raptr.com and signed up. I'm not sure why. Honestly, I think the Michelob made me do it.

So far it's not doing anything for me. I mean literally, it hasn't done anything yet. They say it takes a while to sync up with your Xbox Live account, but I'm thinking it doesn't take days. Of course, I had trouble with Brightkite at first, but it's working now. I'm probably just too impatient. Expecting everything to work sooner than later. Crazy!

Samurai Slowdown

Alright, so now I'm pissed. A quick browsing of Major Nelson's blog post about Samurai Shodown 2 proves that the game was originally listed at 400 fake points, then later upped to 800. That's $10 in real money for a retro title. What the fuck?

I know I've been bitching about the rising prices of arcade titles for a while now, and I'm sure everyone is pretty sick of it. Oh well.

I have really been looking forward to this game since I heard it was in the works. My sister and I used to play the hell out of the Genesis version. Nothing beats playing as Hanzo and doing a bunch of cheap grabs. lol!

Anyway, I've decided that I'm done with the Xbox Live Arcade. I've bought my last title. I'm not shelling out 800 points for a game that should be 400 since Microsoft is trying to push their price increase with the "Summer of Arcade". Fuck that. Any money I spend on downloadable games will be on the PSN.

The sticky-sweet irony of the whole thing is that I'm in the market for a new 360 with the 60Gig HDD. My quasi-launch system's disc drive has been making some very unpleasant noises lately, and even given me disc read errors while playing Rock Band the other night. I'm not sure, but I think that's a sign that I might be screwed.

Of course, buying a new Xbox means moving all my content to a new HDD. I do not look forward to that, especially since I've never migrated my licenses to the replacement system they sent me after my launch console RROD'd. I anticipate it being a pain in the ass.

Anyway, look for my Xbox on eBay! Bidding starts at $149.99!

Buddy And Stuff

I picked up Buddy from the Humane Society on Tuesday. He was all groggy from being neutered. It was funny when he tried to walk. He stumbled sideways like he was drunk. Hehe. The HS did piss me off when I asked for his ear medication. They told us more than once when we visited that he had an infection and would have drops. When I asked for it I was told it was locked in a room and that the person with the key was already gone. Convenient! I called the next day and found out that there were never any drops. The vet had never looked at it. I would need to bring him back in to have the vet look and see what kind of medication we needed. And all this had to happen before the vet left at 3. Really? Because I have all the time and gas in the world to make multiple trips up there because you people are dumbasses!

In other news, I'm currently on the job hunt. I've got my resume' out on Monster and CareerBuilder. There are layoffs happening here at my job, and I want to get while the getting is good. I've been told that they aren't planning on laying me off, but I don't trust them. There are other factors at work here that I can't really explain. Suffice it to say that there is a mole in place with a direct line to my manager. 'Nuff said.

Humane Society My Ass!

We've learned over the last few days that the Humane Society is run about as well as...well...as well as Uwe Boll directs movies. (Sorry, that's the best I could come up with.) They determined that Buddy is not adoptable because he's skittish and unpredictable. I'm sure they barely spent any time to make this determination. If we weren't willing to adopt him, his fate would be death. So much for no-kill.

To The Humane Society We Go

to the humane society
Originally uploaded by Gemini Ace

Rhea got home from work yesterday to find Buddy (that's what we named him) sitting by our front door. He came to her and let her pick him up. I got home and we headed to the Human Society.

Once we got him there we found out that they aren't exactly a no-kill shelter. Apparently there is no such thing as a no-kill shelter. They just don't do it on site. They send the animals off to another location to have them put down. Even places like Operation Kindness aren't no-kill. They can just say that because they don't actually do the killing themselves. How convenient.

Once we found that out, we really didn't want to leave him. But, we live in a one bedroom apartment. We just don't have the room. So, we gave them our phone numbers in case they determine he's not adoptable or something. Pretty much if they're going to put him to sleep, we want to be called so we can adopt him.

Hopefully he will be adopted by a good family or lonely single guy. I just don't think it's right for him to be put down just because they don't think he's adoption material.

I know you can't save every animal, but I would think they would try a little harder. The girls that worked there seemed pretty flippant about the whole thing. I'm going to call tomorrow and check on him.

Our Stray

stray pup
Originally uploaded by Gemini Ace

We've been seeing a stray dog around the apartments lately. I first saw him last Friday. He's really skinny and skittish. We've been trying to coax him to come to us by leaving food and treats. I'm hoping we can catch him and take him to the Humane Society. I'm worried that if the regular dog catcher catches him, they'll end up putting him to sleep instead of finding him a home.

It's obvious he's been abused because he won't come near us. The picture shows how much distance he's putting between us. And if we move towards him, he moves away.

We are trying to show him that we're not going to hurt him, but it will take time. I'm just worried we don't have a lot of time before someone catches him.

The Force Unleashed Demo

I downloaded and subsequently played the demo for The Force Unleashed yesterday. I played through four times and it was a blast. I recorded my second play through and uploaded it to YouTube. I also took a bunch of screenshots and slapped them up on my Flickr. I cannot wait for this game!

TEETH

So, we were sitting in front of the TV last night with absolutely nothing to watch. We don't care about the Olympics or any of the other completely lame shows that are on Monday nights (except Two and a Half Men). We had two movies from Netflix, but Rhea didn't want to watch them. They were more for me. For some reason she doesn't want to see Doomsday. I can't imagine why not.

So, I get the brilliant idea to browse the Xbox Live Marketplace for a movie to rent. We had never done that, so I figured what the hell.

The selection is not the greatest, and it took is a good half hour or so to find a couple of possibilities. Once we settled on the movie, I had to delete a couple demos off my hard drive to make room. Thanks, 20Gigs!!

If you don't know what Teeth is about, (and shame on you if you don't), let me break it down for you. Teeth is the story of a girl who is born with teeth. I'm sure you're saying to yourself "everybody has teeth".

Not like this.

She has teeth in her hoohaa. You know, down there! It's called vagina dentata.

The movie starts a little slow, basically laying the groundwork for the rest of the film where she comes in to her own, as it were. And once it gets going, it's a dick-chomping good time, which is both hilarious and cringe-inducing. I can't recommend this movie enough. It doesn't go into super cheesy territory, and that really saves it. This could have been some really bad horror flick, but instead it's funny where it needs to be and creepy everywhere else.

Bowling For Soup

We went to the Live8 event on Saturday night. It was basically a birthday party for the radio station we listen to. I was really excited to see Bowling for Soup and I was not disappointed. BFS has to be the funniest band I've ever seen. Not that many bands try to be funny. Most are so serious it's depressing.

They opened the show with a monologue on 80's hair metal that was funnier than either of the comedians that performed at the show. Then, once they started, it was a constant stream of hilarity. They even stopped mid-song for a photo op (below). Awesome!

Expanding The Brand

The name Gemini Ace means a lot of things to a lot of people. To some people I'm a guy that trolls your forum and makes immature comments about your posts. To others, I'm the guy that twitters incessantly about crazy bullshit that may or may not matter to anyone but me. And to even more people I'm a guy that runs a little independent podcast about whatever the hell I feel like talking about. However you slice it, it's a marketing machine intent on assaulting pop culture in every facet of its existence.

I'm expanding the brand here at Gemini Ace, Inc. In the coming days I will be initiating steps that will increase our exposure 1 fold. Possibly even 1.5 fold. If I had any idea how to make a flow chart, pie graph, or 3d data model, I would show you our projections for the rest of the year. Please just picture a horizontal line going slightly up.

Keep your eyes peeled for things like Gemini Ace branded posts over at Platform Nation. I have partnered with them to post news in return for them letting me post news. I think it's a good deal, and one that will totally benefit them in the long run. I just hope the traffic from my blog doesn't take down the site.

Interest has also been generated for a photo from my vast archive. It's just a little article about how cooking has changed over the last 200,000 years. Of course, in another several thousand years, my archives will probably be found by some alien colonists and worshiped as artwork and/or they will look upon my visage as a long lost deity.

Either way, it's all good.

Twitter is Down

This is absolutely brilliant. I know exactly how he feels. And about the jews, too. Damn jews.

Gemini Division

This looks kinda cool. Hopefully they will contact me about being a guest star.

My Never

Awesome new Blue October song.

America's Got Talent?

We've been watching America's Got Talent lately, and I just have to speak out about this insane hodgepodge of a reality show.

It's not that the show is bad. I mean, we're still watching, so it either has some type of subliminal messages keeping me tuned in, or it's actually a compelling show in it's own right.

The irony is how seemingly regular people are competing with some freaks of nature in the same category. Of course, I use the term freaks of nature in the nicest way possible.

What really irritates me about the show is how they've allowed certain contestants are put through not based on their talent, but some other quality altogether. For example, they've put through two little kids, one 4 and one 9 years old. They eliminated a 15 year old girl that could play the piano and sing, but kept the two kids that sound like high-pitched Disney characters. It's cute that a little girl can sing Wish Upon a Star, but is that better than someone that can legitimately sing and play an instrument? No.

Secondly, they didn't eliminate the Army guy that forgot the words to his damn song! I have a theory on this, and please don't take this as me hating on people in the armed forces. I'm not. But, the reason this guy is in the competition and remained in the competition is because he's a soldier. He wore his fatigues up there at the first audition, then wore his dress blues last night when he forgot the words.

It seems to me like the guy knew he would get a huge chunk of sympathy from the audience and judges for letting it be known that he's a soldier and that he had been in Iraq. And that's fine. Put that on the application. If it comes up, cool. But don't go out there in your fatigues. And the guy really doesn't have the talent to make it any other way. He's not bad, but he's not that good, either.

I have realized that there is a sure fire way to win America's Got Talent. Take a four year old, put them in fatigues, and have them sing some song about coming home or being away from their family. Instant win!

Troublemaker

People like to post videos of themselves playing Rock Band and Guitar Hero tracks on expert and scoring 100%. That is why I'm posting videos of me playing on medium and NOT getting 100%. I think it's funny and ironic. Plus, I'm pretty good at medium. Not 100% good, but still good.

Too Drunk!

Brightkite

So, somebody sent me an invite to Brightkite.com yesterday. I'm not sure who it was, but whoever you are, thanks!

I signed up and started playing around. It took me a while to get my settings tweaked in order to get my posts and check ins to go to twitter, but thanks to a really helpful Brightkite guy, I got it worked out.

I just question the value of location-based blogging. It's an interesting idea, but it just feels like something I'm tacking on to Twitter.

Brightkite might grab me more when we eventually get our iPhones. Yes, that's right. Rhea and I have pretty much decided that we're going to get iPhones when our T-Mobile contract runs out in October. I still have to find out how the data plan works and how much it will cost us per month, and I'm also hoping they patch in MMS messaging by then also. That's really the only sticking point I have right now. It's almost a deal breaker. I wish I could test one out before I buy it and see what the difference is.

Gears of War Event

I went to one of my local Gamestops last night for the Gears after hours event. I actually went to two Gamestops, but the first one wasn't holding the tournament because nobody had signed up. So, I ran to another one that was right down the road and got in.

First, we watched the video hosted by Cliffy B. It was maybe two minutes long. There was some cool looking gameplay shown, but not a lot obviously. Cliffy said that you would be fighting on the highest peak of Sera to the lowest...area. Something like that. It was over so quick I barely remember.

The GS manager told us later that the video was "defective" and that it should have been an hour and a half long. I don't really know if I believe that. The video we watched during the first event wasn't that long. Not sure they would produce an hour and a half of video for this little event, but whatever.

So, then they got our names and started up the "tournament". It was basically one round, 1 vs 1, on Gridlock. They removed all the power weapons so nobody could "get lucky with the boomshot". I was knocked out the first round, which wasn't a huge surprise to me. It was a close match, though. It ended up with us at very close range using shotguns on each other. Both of our screens were bloody. He just happened to get a lucky shot.

By the way, we had to play on the Xbox 360 kiosk machine and the little LCD display on split screen. And we watched Cliffy's video on what I think was a 13" CRT. Very nice!

I did get a t-shirt out of the deal, so I'm happy.

Batman, Meet Dave

We caught The Dark Knight last night with Alana, Kenneth, her friends and my dad. It was a good movie, made even better/creepier by Heath Ledgers performance as The Joker. He really stole the show, and I wanted to see more scenes with him in the movie.

I'm not going to say that Dark Knight was the best move EVAR! It's easily up there, but I think the length hurts it a bit. I had heard that there wasn't really anything that could be cut out, but I disagree with that. I won't go into details here since I don't want to spoil anything. I just think it could have been tightened up a bit and kept to a solid 2 hours.

Ledger's performance was incredible. He really made you think that he was completely insane, and therein lies the brilliance of The Joker. He has a plan, but it's wrapped in so much insanity and chaos that no one has a chance at unraveling it. Except Batman, of course.

And by the way, why does Bale talk like that when he's Batman? You know, with the growl. I remember Keaton having a different voice for Batman, but it wasn't that pronounced and weird.

And since I love seeing a great superhero movie do well as much as I love seeing a crap movie tank, let's talk Meet Dave. I was reading up on the box office totals for this cinematic piece of shit, and by all accounts it's as big a flop as Pluto Nash. It cost anywhere from $65 to $100 million to make (I've seen both numbers online), and only made a little over $5 million its opening weekend. Damn, that makes me happy.

My main question is, who the hell went to go see it? Who arrived at the theater with money in hand and told the person behind the glass "One for Meet Dave"?

Seriously, we need to find out who these people are, or at least don't let them leave the theater once we have them. They should all be transported to some remote location in the desert and studied, then shot. I mean, first we need to isolate that gene that makes you want to see a movie like that, then eradicate it.

We also need to go ahead and stop Eddie Murphy from making any other movies. I honestly can't tell you of the last good movie he was in. Beverly Hills Cop maybe?

Really? Do we have to go back into the 80's to find a decent movie for this guy? And Shrek doesn't count because 1)all of them suck and 2)he's just reading a script and doing a voice.

And by the way, who's holding the purse strings on these movies? Give me $65 million and I'll greenlight something good. Something with action, guns, and boobs. Lots of boobs.

Six Flags

My wife's birthday is this Sunday, so as her present I decided we would go to Six Flags this week. We have been talking about it for a while since they had the kids pricing going on, so it was a good idea.

We got there around 10:30 a.m. when they opened. We left at 9:00 p.m. Yea, we were tired. :-)

It was really great because we didn't have to wait in line for long to ride any of the rides. The longest wait we had was to get on Tony Hawk's Big Spin. We were able to just walk onto the Texas Giant (and get our picture taken).

I got a bunch of great pictures that I put up on my Flickr. It was funny, because I wanted to get my picture with the Joker and Riddler, but they left before we could get it the first time. So, when we saw them towards the end of the day, I jumped at the chance. I did feel like a big dork, but that's nothing new for me. Hehe.

MSN Auto Design Challenge...Thingy

Thanks to Deaconblade360, I've been trying to get some free MS points by entering this MSN design contest. They basically give you a Dodge Charger and some color options and decals and let you go to town. It's a little deeper than that, but I'm not so deluded that I think anything I design will win, so it's really just about making the gayest car I can.

Flickrdown

Yesterday, I posed the question on Twitter whether there was an app that would allow you to download all of your Flickr photos to your desktop. I was quickly answered by Jay900, who pointed me to Flickrdown. I used it last night, and it is awesome!

The only thing that I can see that this app needs is some RSS support. My idea is something like an RSS reader, but it automatically downloads any new photos directly to your machine. No need to go in and select the new ones. I'm sure this is possible, and if I had any idea how to implement this, I would.

You could even go as far as having a separate folder for photos that you tag. The app would recognize the tag (for example, the tag "print"), and then you could know that you want to print that photo. Then uploading it to a store like Walgreens would be a snap.

Basically, I take a lot of photos with my phone and send them to Flickr, so those pics rarely actually get saved on my hard drive.

Anyway, it's a great program and I recommend it if you use Flickr with your phone.

Fireworks And A Three Day Weekend

fireworks
Originally uploaded by Gemini Ace

It was nice to have a three day weekend. I was scheduled to work at Kohl's on Saturday night, but I called in sick. We had both asked for it off, but they scheduled me anyway. Not cool.

We went to Alana's and hung out for a while. They had fireworks out there, which was cool. I tried to take pictures with my phone with varying results.

We're going to get new phones come October when our T-Mobile plan runs out. We're thinking about going with Verizon and getting the Glyde or something else like it. I don't really want the iPhone because I don't want to be tied down to Apple and iTunes.

Anyway, it was a good weekend. Played a bunch of UT3 on my PS3. I might be almost done with the campaign. I've been seeing people that are playing it on the 360. I'm hoping Epic adds trophies to it since they had to give it cheevos on the 360.

Free HD-DVD's = Happiness

free hd-dvds!
Originally uploaded by Gemini Ace

I finally got my free movies for buying the HD-DVD add on for the 360 back in March. Can you really beat a $50 player and 5 free movies? I think not!

Funny thing is, I only got one movie that was listed on the original form. The others were all substitutes, and definite upgrades to what was originally offered. I mean, Transformers in HD? Yes, please!

The Force Unleashed

While it's still 2 months away, I can't help but start to get excited for the new Star Wars game, The Force Unleashed. It's one of the few games I'm planning on actually buying on release this year. The question I have is whether I'm buying the Xbox 360 version or the Wii version. I guess I will have to wait for some reviews, although the 360 and PS3 versions were developed by LucasArts, while the Wii version was handled by a 3rd party. I'm not sure if some exclusive content (and multiplayer) will be enough to outweigh the cheevos. Of course, if the motion control works well and you can realistically use the lightsaber and force powers, then I'm totally there.

Hazy Haze

I borrowed Haze from my friend at work last week. We each bought PS3's from Wal-Mart. I used my free $100 gift card on groceries, and he used his on Haze. Not the best decision he's ever made, but I got to play it for free, so I'm not complaining. Hehe.

Overall, I thought the gameplay was decent. It wasn't groundbreaking, but it didn't feel as floaty as the TimeSplitters games always felt to me. There were a lot of good ideas in there that really just didn't get executed as well as they could have. Shouldn't I have been a little more addicted to Nectar? I mean, give me some withdrawal symptoms in-game.

What really stuck out to me was the language. They slung fuck and motherfucker around quite a bit. I know it's a M rated game and all, but I guess I'm just not used to the NPC's calling me a motherfucker. It just felt like they were just saying it to say it. There wasn't a lot of context aside from the fact that they were all juiced up on Nectar.

By the way, if you're going to go ahead and let the motherfucker's fly, then why not give your soldiers a better battlecry than "boosh!"

I think I was almost through the campaign when I started hitting some bugs. I was driving a vehicle and crashed head first into an enemy vehicle, which caused all sorts of craziness. When I loaded the checkpoint, there were no textures loaded and no vehicle. Just me driving around, leaving tire tracks on nothing. So, I re-loaded and it worked for a few minutes until it finally froze. It's at that point that I decided I was done with it.

I did get Unreal Tournament 3 for the PS3 and it is gorgeous. Glad I got it for the PS3 instead of waiting for the 360 version.

The Incredible Hulk

We went to see The Incredible Hulk this weekend. I really enjoyed the movie. It's not as good as Iron Man, but it's up there.

The best thing about the Iron Man and Hulk movies is the fact that they are taking obvious steps towards an Avengers movie. Nick Fury comes to Iron Man and, in turn, Tony Stark comes to General Ross in the Hulk. They're putting together a team. The Avengers initiative. Oh, it's gonna be awesome!

My theory on the movie is this. It will star Captain America, Thor, Iron Man, the Hulk, Ant Man, and possibly the Wasp. I would also really like to see Hawkeye and the Vision to make an appearance. The Vision would be pretty easy to pull off special effects wise, and he would fit into the plot I have in mind.

I don't really have a point by point plot mapped out, just some broad strokes. I think the Avengers are being brought together to battle a single adversary, Ultron. At some point I think it would be cool if they capture the Vision or he infiltrates them somehow. Then, he turns against them (big battle ensues), and then he redeems himself at the end and joins the team. Ultron will be pretty easy to do the CGI on since we've seen it already in Iron Man. At some point Ant Man will have to get huge, Banner will have to Hulk out, and Cap will throw his shield. Oh, and Thor will have to sling his hammer through a bunch of robots!