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Master Chief and Friends Superstar Adventures in DreamlandI've seen the future...and it is good.
By the way...I just started the last chapter of Halo 3. Would have finished last night, but it was already midnight and I need to work, today.
9月24日 "Halo 3 is indeed better than when your wife got pregnant"I get my copy in 5 hours.
Below is an article from the Times Online out of the UK. It's basically a one stop place to read all the major review highlights from the game sites and mags.
Today is a day of parties around MGS. I will be at the big Bungie party, tonight. I'll try to snag some pics, if ya'll are interested. Or, even if you're not.
Halo 3: a review of the reviewsRhys Blakely
"Sites around the web agree," says Crunchgear.com. "Halo 3 is indeed better than when your wife got pregnant." A brief survey of the reviews of Microsoft's latest title for the Xbox 360 video games console shows little to offset that judgement. “There's no denying it - Halo 3 is the biggest videogame in history,” gamepro.com says. “No other game has had as much hype, built-up fan anticipation nor the marketing push – try $10 million in marketing campaigns alone – as the last chapter of the premiere franchise in console gaming. “But is the game worthy? … I have two words for you: 'Hell' and 'Yes'.” Indeed, the site suggests, if you don’t own an Xbox 360 already, Halo 3 is worth going out and buying one. Arstechnica.com follows a similarly enthusiastic vein. “The truly laudable aspect of the presentation is the solid frame rate,” it says. “There are times when you'll be fighting in a congested environment, full of enemies moving and firing of their own accord, only to see overhead Pelicans and Phantoms weave through the air, dropping off more enemies and blasting at each other. "Or perhaps you're coming over a crest with a crew of Warthogs following you before a pair of Scarabs fall from the heavens, landing on an encroaching horde of Wraiths and Grunt-driven Ghosts. During these intense moments, the game never loses a frame. Even in the most intense sequence of the entire game that comes as a climax just before the ending—which includes countless explosions, tons of enemies, and some insane environmental destruction—the game's pace stays rock-solid.” Turning to xbox360fanboy.com, you might expect the review to be suitably gushing. And the site doesn’t disappoint. It also offers a little in the way of background: “I won't spoil the story, but Halo 3 picks up exactly where Halo 2 left off: Cortana (the Master Chief's AI) is missing, the Prophet of Truth is leading an attack on earth, and the Master Chief is rocketing towards the planet on an ancient Forerunner ship," it says. "By the time the game draws to a close, all loose ends have been tied and questions answered. Old friends and enemies are reunited, alliances formed and broken, and plots are twisted. It's the stuff you'd expect in the closing chapter of a trilogy, with a few special tidbits thrown in for dedicated fans. Also, for those that are interested, locating the secret terminals throughout the game fleshes out the story of the Forerunners and the first firing of the Halo rings. The terminals are optional though, so if you're more interested in blasting baddies, feel free. Kotaku.com adds: "While Halo 3 doesn't reinvent the genre, it doesn't need to. What it does instead is provide fans of the trilogy a sort of satisfying ending and a much more satisfying experience." And we’ll give the last word to ign.com: “My father once told me, ‘Never start a fight you don't intend to finish’. Master Chief's pappy must have said something similar to him long before John-117 became a Spartan, because in Halo 3, the iconic action hero does indeed finish the fight. "There is no cliffhanger ending that will have you screaming at your television, no doubting that this is Chief's tale and everyone else is along for the ride, and no question that it is a worthy conclusion to the most successful trilogy in videogame history. But just like that girl you dated in college, Halo 3 has some issues. Don't worry; the good far outweighs the bad. This is Halo 3, and it is indeed the game you've been waiting for the past three years. It concludes: “The fight is finished. Anyone got a cigarette?” 9月21日 Jena, LASo...I got a brief glimpse of this story on the radio. As soon as they mentioned Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton, I was like, "yup...obvious case of playing the race card, here."
But, it's not. There is a lot more to this story, and I find myself siding with the good (and slimy) Reverends.
Apparently, it all started around some popular oak tree at this high school in Jena, LA. The "White kids" like to hang out at this tree. (See, most school have jocks, goths, nerds, band kids, and sluts...the South has the White kids and the Black kids.) Once it was learned that the "Black kids" wanted to sit at this tree, so racist piles of dung decided it would be really sweet to hang some nooses from the tree's branches. Then, justfully so...those kids got their asses kicked by a group of black kids.
Here's the rub. Hanging nooses from a tree is not illegal. Stupid, but not illegal. Beating someone up is. If Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton were on scene just to protest the kids getting in trouble, I would say they are just getting their faces in the news, same as usual.
But...these kids weren't just getting in a small bit of trouble for beating up a kid who deserved it...the were being put on trial for attempted murder. WTF? Come on, now. A good judge should simply say, "you silly kids...you can't go beating up other kids just cause they make you mad (even though they deserved it.) You should be punished. I hereby sentence you to 1 day house arrest. Don't do it again."
It goes on their record as they did break the law, but it also says, "Hey Whitey punks...that's what happens when you're an ass!"
There are 6 kids that are being charged for this assult. Really, now...if they were really attempting murder, shouldn't 6 of them have been able to pull it off.
I don't like the South. I will never live there. For reasons like this. Bioshock - Game Review by JasonI should really have a Video Game section.
So...I beat Bioshock yesterday. I beat it on the "Good" path. I have trouble playing the "Evil" path. Maybe the Catholic Guilt follows me right into my video games. Of course, it doesn't go so deep that I don't want to shoot people and blow stuff up...but, as long as I finish on the "Good" path, I'm cool.
I started this game and I was like, "Eh." And then I played it a bit more and I was like, "Ooooh." And, then I really started to get into it and I was like, "Whoa."
So, this was one of those sweet games with a story. I didn't buy it, I just rented it (twice and it's now a day overdue). So, maybe some other time I will take the Evil path. But, here's what I thought of the good path. For those that havene't played the game, it starts with a plane crash outside a lighthouse. You are the only survivor (big shocker there.) There is this elevator in the light house that takes you down...into the ocean. During the underwater elevator ride, you are introduced to Rapture...an underwater city. It literally looks like a metropolis at the bottom of the ocean.
Of course, once your elevator stops, you are instantly attacked. You start learning all these things about Rapture: how it was built, the people that live there, the Powers you can get from throughout the city.
Then...this creapy kid shows up. They are called "Little Sisters" and they are my favorite part of the game. They are controled by this stuff called Adam and it makes them evil.
Each Little Sister comes with this huge bad-ass MF called a "Big Daddy." Big Daddy like to throw me around and kill me over an over again. Once you kill Big Daddy, you have the choice to either rescue the Little Sisters from their evil existance or Harvest her Adam which helps you to grow more powerful. Here is where the good and evil comes in. You can be Good and rescue all the little girls, or you can be evil and take their power leaving them dead. Kinda of creepy. But, the story is told very well (and I do love a good story in my video games).
The game is pretty much your standard shooter, with some need additions (the Plasmids you use with the right trigger), but it's the ending that I loved. They throw an interesting twist in 3/4 of the way, through. But, the best part that made me happy I spent the time to beat it before returning it.
At the end, I'm fighting the big wig bad guy. He's smacking me around. Finally, just as I finally smack him around enough, all the Little Sisters who I have saved come rushing out of their hiding spaces and start stabbing the hell out of the bad guy with their Adam Siringes. Again, creepy, but the imagry is great. So...overall, I got a kick out of this game. I will probably borrow it from someone or rent it again down the road (after I beat Halo 3) and see if I can bring myself to go evil. Cause, really...what happens at the end if I didn't save all the little girls? Curiosity may get the best of me. I am glad I rented it, though. Not sure it's a game I will go back to multiple times after beating it, and there is no multiplayer option. But...it was certainly a lot of fun.
9月17日 What the heck is pro bono, then?http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2003888245_probono17m.html
So...a while back, a group of parents sued the Seattle School District because their kids weren't admitted into a certain high school. The parents' charge was that the students weren't admitted because they were white. The school district used race as a factor in deciding who to admit.
The parents won the case. The US Supreme Court determined that it was Unconstitutional to use race as an admitting factor. For the record, in case you didn't know, I think this was a good decision.
But, that's not what this post is about.
The parents were represented by a lawfirm called Davis Wright Tremaine. Remember it so you never hire them. Davis Wright Tremaine took this case on Pro Bono...which, I thought essentually meant "for free."
Apparently not. Tremaine is suing to collect $1.8 million from the school district to cover legal fees (paper, pens, lawyers, etc). I thought it was crazy that a law firm would actually try to seek money from pro bono work. According to this article, I am wrong. It seems to happen all the time.
A general rule of thumb, apparently, is that any money given to the law firm for their pro bono work should be donated to charity. Not MUST be donated...but, should be donated.
So, let me get this straight...you are trying to get $1.8 million from an already financially strapped school district. Are you planning to give this to charity? If so, why not just give it back to the school district? Shouldn't these funds (taxpayer funds) stay where the belong? With the school?
The PR line from the lawfirm is that, since the parents didn't request any winnings from their lawsuit (good), there is no motivation from the school district to behave in the future. Yeah...nice little BS line there. I'll bet it's more like, "Hey...we could totally make a lot of money off this case we just wrapped up. Let's get it!" I mean...how is taking money away from the teachers and students going to help the school district stop using race?
What's the difference between a snake lying dead in the road and a lawyer lying dead in the road?
The snake has skid marks in front of it. *Sorry Justin...you're still my favorite lawyer.* Stupid idiot at Seattle Times calls Halo ads "Troubling."Okay...maybe it's just cause I am a big Halo nerd, but, come on.
Seattle Times columnist, Brier Dudley (who I will hereonin call Dufus, because his name is way too nerdy) feels that Microsoft is going to far in its advertisements for Halo 3. He thinks that we're stepping over the line by releasing a game that involves humans (aka: Americans) fighting a war against Aliens (aka: Muslims or something).
Okay, it's true that the Covenant are religious fanatics. And, it's true that Master Chief, like America, kicks ass. But, other than that...what's the problem? The ads for Halo 3 aren't about trying to stir up support for the fight in Iraq. They're about appealing to everybody's senses of heroism, courage, and sacrifice.
I am curious if Dufus has played any of the previous games in the Halo trilogy. Perhaps, the Flood represent the French. Incoherant...Gluttonous...kinda smelly. 9月16日 Bank of America can [enter verb here] my [enter body part here]!So...I have had a Bank of America credit card since college. Over 7 years. It started with, like, a $1000 limit, or something stupid like that. With the crappy limit came a crappy interest rate. But, I didn't use it a lot. When I graduated and started working, the limit went up and the interest rate went down. At some point, we developed a much better, but not great, APR. We have always thought about dumping that card, but always decided to keep it due only to the longevity of the account.
Well...I just cancelled it. BofA pissed me off beyond the breaking point.
Allow me to explain:
For years (and years and years) we have used Bill Pay through our bank, Wells Fargo. All the info is in there. We (by we, I mean my wife) go into the account, type in the amount of money we're paying and hit send. Boom. Bill paid.
About 4 months ago, we get an e-mail about a week after paying our bills that Bank of America has returned our payment. We don't quite understand why. We call Bank of America. They say they never received it. Couldn't return it if they never received it. Oh, by the way...when we finally pay our bill over the phone. It's late. This happens for the next few months. Bank of America keeps saying they didn't receive the payment. Wells Fargo keeps saying it was returned to them.
One day last week, my wife, being the genius that she is, notices that they address on the Bank of America bill is different than the one in Bill Pay. Somewhere along the line, the mailing address changed. We saw nothing to this effect. Oh...my wife also notices that our interest rate is now 35%. That's correct...you didn't misunderstand me. 35%.
So, I call BofA. I say, "Hey...you changed the address and didn't tell us. Why the heck are you charging us 35%?" They say they will knock it back down to it's original rate after 6 months of on time payments. We were carrying about $2000 on that card. So, essentually, they are going to charge us $700. I was like, "screw that!"
They wouldn't take the blame for the address. Said that even if it did change, the bill would be rerouted. I said, we've been using the same bill pay address for years with no problems. So, I don't know if it's Wells Fargo's fault or Bank of America's fault...but, it's not my fault. They tell me to see if Wells Fargo will give me the money back.
I stay nice. I say, "How about you just try being nice to a long time customer with a strong payment history and knock my interest back down to whatever it was before (I think it was 11%)." They say, "we'll knock it down after 6 months of consecutive on time payments."
I just hung up with them. As of yesterday, we owed 0 on our BofA card. I have officially cancelled it. I feel quite good about it, actually. Jerks.
Oh, and, for the record. We just opened a new checking and savings account with USAA. We won't be with Wells Fargo much longer, either. 9月12日 Nerds Eye ViewSo...I have a new favorite blog to add to my list. This shall be done.
I want to call attention to a post that I loved. I couldn't have said it better myself...even if I used a lot of F Bombs.
This from Nerds Eye View posted on Sept. 3, 2007.
9-11 Protests and ConspiraciesSo...yesterday, in Seattle (maybe in other cities with as many idiots as Seattle), a group of people either took the day off, ditched, or simply got off their couches to protest at various media outlets in town. I have been trying to find a good article about why they're protesting, but so far, all I have been able to find is this from the PI: http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/331281_freedomrally12.html
Now, the PI states that they are protesting "The Patriot Act and Corporate Media." However, there one other thing that they were protesting that the PI didn't report. And, I have a feeling this issue is the reason I can't find any articles from the other media outlets.
They were trying to ed-ju-ma-cate the public on the "realities" of 9-11. Apparently, in fact, 9-11 was an inside job. Either George W. Bush and his administration knew about it and did nothing to prevent it or they set the whole thing up.
I've heard some of these claims before. Usually from fringe websites run by nerds with no girlfriends. I could link them for you, but if you're interested, you can find them youself. Anyway...some of the claims are:
Anyway...I could refute all of these...or I can send you to this great article from Popular Mechanics: Debunking the 9/11 Myths. The real reason for this blog isn't to talk about all the reasons these theories are stupid. It's to talk about why all the protesters are stupid. First of all...I am baffled that people actually take time off work to do this. The PI says that one of the women protesting is a teacher at Ferndale High School who was "granted a day off." Okay, if she was actually granted a day off, I would like to link back to one of my posts about how messed up Washington schools are. School just started and she's being granted a day off to protest? You just came back from 3 months off. Should have gotten your protesting out, then. I bet she actually took a sick day. My real question is, why do people think it's acceptable to hold a protest like this on the anniversary of 9-11? It's not like this happened 30 years ago. It's still fresh in the minds of many people. There were people who lost loved ones. The pain is probably still there. How is this okay? Protests can be held any time. It's a Constitutional right. That doesn't mean you should take a tragic day in our history and expoit it. Protest September 10 or 12. Let the country grieve on Sept. 11. Spout your wakko hippie BS on another day. I was really angered by some of the stuff that I heard. Maybe, here is Seattle, we are too removed from New York. I don't know many people here who were affected by the loss of a loved one on Sept. 11. Maybe that's where the problem is. I know there are New York 9-11 families who don't think enough was done to prevent 9-11. The 9-11 Commission pretty much expresses this attitude. But, to claim that is was caused by the American governement is ignorant and stupid. Just because you hate Bush doesn't mean you should all of a sudden become Anti-American. I'm not a right-wing nut, but, that's exactly what I see this crap as. 9月8日 AustinSo...I am not a big fan of Texas. If you're from Texas, good for you. But, it's too humid, there are too many people here, and it's waaaaayyyy too old fashioned.
I am in Austin. There is a slogan here that reads, "Keep Austin Weird." Okay, what's weird about Austin? The only thing that's weird about Austin is that they are still stuck in the 90s. I mean, I was watching the "Austin 411" channel in my hotel room (I don't think it's a real channel...I think it's something put together by the hotel). They say that South Congress is one of the main areas that keeps Austin weird. Why? Well...according to the show, it has lots of shopping, restaraunts, and live music. HOLY CRAP! I CAN'T HANDLE ALL THE WEIRDNESS!
Oh, also...I am told I need to make sure I am here on the first Thursday of the month because then, all the shops and restaraunts stay open late? How late? 10:00!!!! OMG!!! 10 Freakin' O'clock. I don't think I can keep up with them.
When I first landed, on Tuesday night, my flight arrived at 10:30. I was peeved because I was hungry and there was NOTHING open. I ended up getting a $12 hamberger (almost $20 after tax and mandatory gratuity) from room service. Too bad I didn't land on the first Thursday. Oh, wait...even that wouldn't have mattered.
One of my coworkers wanted to swing by the pharmacy to grab some bottled water and aspirin. We went after dinner. It was about 9:30. Pharmacy was closed.
That's what's weird about Austin. Screw keeping Austin Weird. How about, "Keep Austin in the 21st Century?" 9月6日 Fred Thompson or Larry Craig?Okay...I'm gonna talk about one of these, but I can't decide which and I don't have time right now for both.
So, Fred or Larry...I'll flip a coin.
Call it in the air...
Head...Larry Craig.
So...seriously...what is the big deal here? Basically, the dude was trying to get some poontang from another dude. The only thing illegal was that he was gonna do it in a bathroom, or something. Were they even gonna do it in the bathroom? Is that how the whole "foot tapping" thing works?
Am I condoning it? No...but, I am not condemning it, either. If the guy wants to have sex with some other random guy, so what. It's his business, nobody elses. There was no money involved, so it's not prostitution...that would be illegal. My understanding of the "foot-tapping" thing is that a couple dudes decide to have random sex. In a public bathroom (dang, in how many ways can this be disgusting?)
Other than the "in the public bathroom" thing, there is nothing illegal about what's going on. And, even that part is only a Mister Meaner. Who the hell cares? The Republicans are only freaking out because he's having sex with guys. I don't think it should be up to anyone other than the people of Ohio whether or not he resigns. If they don't want a bathroom humping dude representing them...fine. Vote him out. It's not up to a bunch of homophobes to shove him out.
Personally, I wouldn't give a rip. Don't care what he does in private life, and the crime isn't that huge to me. Make him pay a fine for lewd conduct. But, I don't care if he's a closet homosexual.
I do care that nobody has come to his defence and Mitt Romney basically threw him under the bus. Where is the loyalty. How long did it take them to kick Mark Foley out...and, I think that situation was much more inappropriate than this is.
Who cares? Do you? 9月4日 Oh, puh-lease...how can you not know how to do this.So...I am at the SeaTac airport waiting to board my flight to Austin for the Austin Game Conference. My flight is delayed like 2 freakin' hours. So...I am am chillin' in the Tully's having a java and blogging/working.
I go up to the counter to order my drink. "I would like a Triple Grande Blueberry/Almond non-fat latte, please."
"How do you make that?" She asks?
What? Did you just ask me how you make a triple grande blueberry/almond non-fat latte? You work at freakin' Tully's and you don't know how to make a triple grande blueberry/almont non-fat latte?
Let's forget, for a moment, that the blueberry almond latte was a Tully's specialty. Let's just assume that you are an average barista. If I say, "I would like a Triple Grande Blueberry/Almond non-fat latte, please," what would you do? You would make three shots of espresso, steam some non-fat mild and dump them both into a cup with some squirts of blueberry and almond in it. I'm not even a barista and I get the jist of it.
Anyway...I just finished the drink. I think she forgot the almond.
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