This is the most hilarious shit on MSNBC.
Parts 1 & 2. =)
I love Countdown.
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Kara continues to have dreams about Leoben Conoy and the mandala she painted at her old apartment on Caprica. While on patrol in her Viper, she encounters a Cylon Heavy Raider. When Tyrol cannot verify her claim that the Cylon ship struck the Viper, Admiral Adama and Lee become concerned about her mental stability.
But, of course, this episode will forever be known as, 'When Kara Thrace Died.'
What. The. Hell.
The best show on television just took a huge risk; a larger risk than when they jumped a year in time and settled New Caprica! At least that didn't have cast changes, and they rectified it within four episodes.
Leoben has always been kind of creepy, and he played well to that trait in this episode. Along with his agency as the chorus to lead Kara to her destiny.
The perennial, "she's that actor from Portland who went to my brother's high school!" girl just popped her television death cherry. What remains to be seen is what happens next... does show come back with the white-light space angels similar to the 1980's version? Does she reveal herself as one of the final five Cylon? Or does she just show up in flashbacks, or possibly as a ghost in Lee's subconcious (like Six in Baltar's brain)? We know Katie Sackhoff has a five year contract...
They of course have character trap doors. She had her hand on the seat ejection. There was a white light. "They're waiting for me."
Frack!
What. The. Hell.
The best show on television just took a huge risk; a larger risk than when they jumped a year in time and settled New Caprica! At least that didn't have cast changes, and they rectified it within four episodes.
Leoben has always been kind of creepy, and he played well to that trait in this episode. Along with his agency as the chorus to lead Kara to her destiny.
The perennial, "she's that actor from Portland who went to my brother's high school!" girl just popped her television death cherry. What remains to be seen is what happens next... does show come back with the white-light space angels similar to the 1980's version? Does she reveal herself as one of the final five Cylon? Or does she just show up in flashbacks, or possibly as a ghost in Lee's subconcious (like Six in Baltar's brain)? We know Katie Sackhoff has a five year contract...
They of course have character trap doors. She had her hand on the seat ejection. There was a white light. "They're waiting for me."
Frack!
Just played the demo mission and a skirmish match in Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars.
Wow, this game is stuck 1995.
Build queue lines? A fucking huge/thick interface? The *same* units and buildings as 10 years ago?
I just played Supreme Commander, and it is light years ahead of C&C3. As was Homeworld, Homeworld 2, Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War, Company of Heroes, Total Annihilation, etc...
Note: As you can see above, they are going to sell what they know. Sell Kane!
Don't get me wrong; C&C3 is polished. 5 years on this game shows in the mirror. It looks good and I can see it being fun. The small theater of war on each map forces players to zerg and rush, prevents turtling. Compared to other large-scale strategy games, hell, even Company of Heroes, multiplayer games should probably last less than 30 minutes.
But its like they made it in a vacuum... with no concern to other ideas from the marketplace.
The armies themselves, and moment to moment playthrough, refuse basic tactical aspects. The mechanics break down to infantry versus tanks versus air. And to a lesser degree, infantry bullets versus infantry rockets versus vehicle bullets versus vehicle rockets versus air bullets versus air rockets versus special weaponry.
There are no formations, stances (offensive, balanced, defensive), and other such basic constructs found in the RTS marketplace. Silly!
And everything moves so slow!
I am convinced this game has only three things to offer: the hook of an extensive brand and pedigree; the draw of full-motion video staring our favorite Boomer from Battlestar Galactica and Dr. Cameron from House; and frenzied multiplayer action.
But that is about it.
Note: As you can see above, they are going to sell what they know. Sell Kane!
Don't get me wrong; C&C3 is polished. 5 years on this game shows in the mirror. It looks good and I can see it being fun. The small theater of war on each map forces players to zerg and rush, prevents turtling. Compared to other large-scale strategy games, hell, even Company of Heroes, multiplayer games should probably last less than 30 minutes.
But its like they made it in a vacuum... with no concern to other ideas from the marketplace.
The armies themselves, and moment to moment playthrough, refuse basic tactical aspects. The mechanics break down to infantry versus tanks versus air. And to a lesser degree, infantry bullets versus infantry rockets versus vehicle bullets versus vehicle rockets versus air bullets versus air rockets versus special weaponry.
There are no formations, stances (offensive, balanced, defensive), and other such basic constructs found in the RTS marketplace. Silly!
And everything moves so slow!
I am convinced this game has only three things to offer: the hook of an extensive brand and pedigree; the draw of full-motion video staring our favorite Boomer from Battlestar Galactica and Dr. Cameron from House; and frenzied multiplayer action.
But that is about it.
Amid a heated labor dispute, Tyrol asks the imprisoned Baltar for advice. Seelix becomes involved and reveals that she may have romantic feelings for Tyrol.
Another wonderful episode to Battlestar Galactica. And like so many of them, it touched on major societal issues that humanity faces every day. Class warfare; working conditions; unions; skilled versus forced labor; the rise of charismatic, socialist leaders in exploited labor populations.
Such an amazing show. And centered on Tyrol as well!
The story fits right in with Ronald Moore's aim to portray the survivors in the fleet in a realistic manner. We've seen episodes about food shortages (The Passage) and radical insurgents (Bastille Day). Now we have a story about the harsh working and living conditions, along with the simmering tensions about perceived inequalities among members of the various colonies.
I liked how the producers made an effort to film in a factory-like area onboard the refinery ship. For those who might be wondering why the refinery operations aren't automated, I'm sure much of the equipment was improvised when the ships fled the initial Cylon attack. Also, there may have been a general prohibition against using industrial robots in the Colonies after the failed experiment with the Cylons in the first place.
The differences among the Colonies is far more realistic than the monolithic cultures we see in most sci-fi series. For example, in the Star Trek series, even though there are different alien races, the human race is usually portrayed as a single culture. The nationalities of Scotty and Chekhov on the original series were never really explored in depth.
Some may say that it wouldn't be realistic for the workers to strike when their actions could jeopardize the entire human race if the Cylons attacked. I would disagree with that. I've met numerous people in real life who are so bent on their causes that they would rather have a project or organization fail than to "give in" to the "other side," whatever that may be. I found the attitudes of Cabott, Fenner and Tyrol to be very realistic. (Not saying that I agree with all of their actions though.)
I truly think this episode marks another high point of the series. And it managed to hit its marks without involving the Cylons at all. A masterful piece of writing and an interesting treatment of some touchy socioeconomic topics.
Such an amazing show. And centered on Tyrol as well!
The story fits right in with Ronald Moore's aim to portray the survivors in the fleet in a realistic manner. We've seen episodes about food shortages (The Passage) and radical insurgents (Bastille Day). Now we have a story about the harsh working and living conditions, along with the simmering tensions about perceived inequalities among members of the various colonies.
I liked how the producers made an effort to film in a factory-like area onboard the refinery ship. For those who might be wondering why the refinery operations aren't automated, I'm sure much of the equipment was improvised when the ships fled the initial Cylon attack. Also, there may have been a general prohibition against using industrial robots in the Colonies after the failed experiment with the Cylons in the first place.
The differences among the Colonies is far more realistic than the monolithic cultures we see in most sci-fi series. For example, in the Star Trek series, even though there are different alien races, the human race is usually portrayed as a single culture. The nationalities of Scotty and Chekhov on the original series were never really explored in depth.
Some may say that it wouldn't be realistic for the workers to strike when their actions could jeopardize the entire human race if the Cylons attacked. I would disagree with that. I've met numerous people in real life who are so bent on their causes that they would rather have a project or organization fail than to "give in" to the "other side," whatever that may be. I found the attitudes of Cabott, Fenner and Tyrol to be very realistic. (Not saying that I agree with all of their actions though.)
I truly think this episode marks another high point of the series. And it managed to hit its marks without involving the Cylons at all. A masterful piece of writing and an interesting treatment of some touchy socioeconomic topics.
Take Grand Theft Auto, add Saints Row, throw in a dash of some mad
superhero action, and you've got something sort of like Crackdown.
Only Crackdown is more fun that that horrible cooking analogy.
I've just reached the fourth tier of agility and being able to jump from rooftop to rooftop is great fun.
Oh yea, and it has the Halo 3 beta in there as well. =)
I've just reached the fourth tier of agility and being able to jump from rooftop to rooftop is great fun.
Oh yea, and it has the Halo 3 beta in there as well. =)
I like to play an undead warlock in the World of Warcraft. His name is Relvinian, and he shows a /played time of 16 days and 12 hours. Meaning I've played World of Warcraft for about 35 minutes a day, every day, since November 2004 when the game originally hit store shelves.
The Dark Portal to Outland opened on January 16, 2007. So I sent Relvinian through, and now he has some thoughts.
Simply: wow.
The game dynamics have not changed. The formula remains the same: get quest, complete objectives, receive experience, rise in level, rinse & repeat.
But the world itself is more alive now. The beginning area is full of people, and Blizzard has wisely chosen to combine the areas for characters from the two major factions, Alliance & Horde, to coexist in the same space. And the spawn rate of mobs is insanely high, sometimes down to 5 seconds in various spots on the beginning plains.
Perhaps the largest change at the new end-game, around level 70, is the introduction of smaller raid instances for 10-25 man groups, rather than the previous epic 40 man requirements. Tier sets have also changed from a random drop rate on specific items to a high-rate of generic drop items for all classes that one converts into specialised armor for your specific class. Brilliant! The days of running Blackwing Lair sixty times to get your headgear are long gone, as one might expect to get your full set within five to ten visits.
The two new races are also intriguing... had I not fallen in love with the undead and orc warlocks, I might have rolled a blood elf. But of course I will have to create a cutely called Belf Blight (Blood Elf Blood Knight, the Horde paladin) and Belf Hunter. Silvermoon City and the entire Eversong Woods area is inspired. A strong, strong difference from Trisfal Glades, Durotar, and Mulgore.
I do not have much care for the Alliance, so little time will be spent with the Draenei other than exploring their starting area.
And it appears my thoughts are not unfounded, as the Burning Crusade is now the largest and fastest multimedia release in terms of gross revenue in 24 hours. Show me one other movie, video game, television show, or music album that will have made $99,000,000 in 24 hours? You will not find it.
Tangent: I am conjuring the $99 million from two confirmed sales numbers; 100,000 Collectors editions ($70 each) and 2.3 million standard boxes ($40 each).
Amazing.
I plan to be getting my money's worth. My /played meter will probably rock off the charts in the next few months. =)
See you in Outland!
The game dynamics have not changed. The formula remains the same: get quest, complete objectives, receive experience, rise in level, rinse & repeat.
But the world itself is more alive now. The beginning area is full of people, and Blizzard has wisely chosen to combine the areas for characters from the two major factions, Alliance & Horde, to coexist in the same space. And the spawn rate of mobs is insanely high, sometimes down to 5 seconds in various spots on the beginning plains.
Perhaps the largest change at the new end-game, around level 70, is the introduction of smaller raid instances for 10-25 man groups, rather than the previous epic 40 man requirements. Tier sets have also changed from a random drop rate on specific items to a high-rate of generic drop items for all classes that one converts into specialised armor for your specific class. Brilliant! The days of running Blackwing Lair sixty times to get your headgear are long gone, as one might expect to get your full set within five to ten visits.
The two new races are also intriguing... had I not fallen in love with the undead and orc warlocks, I might have rolled a blood elf. But of course I will have to create a cutely called Belf Blight (Blood Elf Blood Knight, the Horde paladin) and Belf Hunter. Silvermoon City and the entire Eversong Woods area is inspired. A strong, strong difference from Trisfal Glades, Durotar, and Mulgore.
I do not have much care for the Alliance, so little time will be spent with the Draenei other than exploring their starting area.
And it appears my thoughts are not unfounded, as the Burning Crusade is now the largest and fastest multimedia release in terms of gross revenue in 24 hours. Show me one other movie, video game, television show, or music album that will have made $99,000,000 in 24 hours? You will not find it.
Tangent: I am conjuring the $99 million from two confirmed sales numbers; 100,000 Collectors editions ($70 each) and 2.3 million standard boxes ($40 each).
Amazing.
I plan to be getting my money's worth. My /played meter will probably rock off the charts in the next few months. =)
See you in Outland!
February 1, 2003 marked the beginning of an amazing detective series, with a book called Along Came a Spider. Sadly, it also got turned into a sub-par movie staring Morgan Freeman, but that is a tangent for another day.
It begins, like every good mystery novel, by showing us the villain and his crime. This time we are introduced to Gary Soneji: every parent's worst nightmare. He calls himself "the son of Lindbergh." His family and colleagues know him as a mild-mannered, unassuming guy, and would find it impossible to imagine him as a psychopath, a serial murderer, and now, the perpetrator of the most notorious kidnapping of the century. Only Soneji knows himself as the killer of countless victims and as the merciless kidnapper of Maggie Rose, the golden-haired daughter of a famous actress, and Shrimpie Goldberg, the young son of the Secretary of the Treasury.
The unenviable task of tracking down Soneji has been assigned to Alec Cross, a black Washington, D.C., homicide detective with a Ph.D. in psychology and a soft spot for the mysterious, seductive, blonde Secret Service supervisor who has also been drawn into the case. Suddenly, everything in Cross's personal and professional life has become explosive.
As a man, Cross must deal with the conflicts and dangers of a forbidden love affair. As a psychologist, he must face the toughest test of his career: How do you outsmart a brilliant psychopath, especially one who appears to have a split personality -- one who won't let the other half remember those horrific acts?
So far, Soneji has eluded the FBI, the Secret Service, and the police. Who will be his next victim?
Thankfully a couple of people, most undeserving of his brutal actions. It was the first book I read that spent a significant amount of time focused on the psychology of the actual criminal, rather than just following his actions.
I just reread it again last weekend and still consider it one of the best mystery novels I've read.
Oh, and it is also available as an ebook from eReader.com, which is my new favorite medium for the written word. Plus, you can't beat $4 and change for a novel you can keep on your desktop, your Treo, your laptop, etc...
The unenviable task of tracking down Soneji has been assigned to Alec Cross, a black Washington, D.C., homicide detective with a Ph.D. in psychology and a soft spot for the mysterious, seductive, blonde Secret Service supervisor who has also been drawn into the case. Suddenly, everything in Cross's personal and professional life has become explosive.
As a man, Cross must deal with the conflicts and dangers of a forbidden love affair. As a psychologist, he must face the toughest test of his career: How do you outsmart a brilliant psychopath, especially one who appears to have a split personality -- one who won't let the other half remember those horrific acts?
So far, Soneji has eluded the FBI, the Secret Service, and the police. Who will be his next victim?
Thankfully a couple of people, most undeserving of his brutal actions. It was the first book I read that spent a significant amount of time focused on the psychology of the actual criminal, rather than just following his actions.
I just reread it again last weekend and still consider it one of the best mystery novels I've read.
Oh, and it is also available as an ebook from eReader.com, which is my new favorite medium for the written word. Plus, you can't beat $4 and change for a novel you can keep on your desktop, your Treo, your laptop, etc...
Should this episode be watching in a vacuum, it is extremely satisfying. It continues an exciting story and has interesting characters.
Should you have watched this and expected something big from the previous week's previews, you might be disappointed. It was oversold as the end-all-be-all before January 22, 2007. It isn't.
The aptly named episode concerning the save cheerleader brings more of the heroes to Texas. Peter has been arrested by the local police, and his brother Nathan shows up with lawyers and bail to secure his freedom. Isaac, the precognitive artist, also finds time to meet with his Japanese comic-book fans Hiro and Ando. Hiro flashes him the traditional greeting of Vulcans, something I thought was both cute and appropriate for the character. I'm also glad we get to see Isaac a little out of his element, no longer doped up, and do something more than acing out the symptoms of addiction and withdrawal.
We get a powerful vision at the end of the episode thanks to Peter, enough to keep the hardcore fans debating its relevance for the coming 6 weeks until new content. The vision itself is more surreal than past episodes: an empty New York City finds Peter confused in the middle of empty cars, but the other Heroes see him and approach; unfortunately his hands start glowing (or... irradiating?), Claire mouths, "I'm sorry," and the other Heroes run away while New York City is destroyed behind them with Peter at its core.
Its enough to keep me interested.
The aptly named episode concerning the save cheerleader brings more of the heroes to Texas. Peter has been arrested by the local police, and his brother Nathan shows up with lawyers and bail to secure his freedom. Isaac, the precognitive artist, also finds time to meet with his Japanese comic-book fans Hiro and Ando. Hiro flashes him the traditional greeting of Vulcans, something I thought was both cute and appropriate for the character. I'm also glad we get to see Isaac a little out of his element, no longer doped up, and do something more than acing out the symptoms of addiction and withdrawal.
We get a powerful vision at the end of the episode thanks to Peter, enough to keep the hardcore fans debating its relevance for the coming 6 weeks until new content. The vision itself is more surreal than past episodes: an empty New York City finds Peter confused in the middle of empty cars, but the other Heroes see him and approach; unfortunately his hands start glowing (or... irradiating?), Claire mouths, "I'm sorry," and the other Heroes run away while New York City is destroyed behind them with Peter at its core.
Its enough to keep me interested.
The Nintendo Wii looks to change traditional video game entertainment because it involves the players in the action. And I think it has, now that I've been able to play with it for a day.
My wife and I grew up playing the Nintendo Entertainment System, Super Nintendo Entertainment System, & Nintendo 64. In fact, one of our first interesting discussions (and when I realized she was the girl for me) in high school concerned Goldeneye 64 and her trouble on one of the later levels.
So it is no surprise we both wanted the Wii. I even planned to go stand in line for it.
But on Saturday night we went to see the spectacular James Bond in Casino Royale and I didn't get to line up at the local Fred Meyer to get one of the few Wiis available.
So a mad dash to Joystiq.com revealed that a local Target in Beaverton would have 132 Wiis in stock. And they opened at 8 AM on Sunday. I made plans to wake up early and procure a Wii.
I rolled out of bed at around 6:00, showered, and jumped in the car to speed to the West-side. I passed a Krispy Kreme and almost stopped, but decided better of it: if there was no line, I'd come back; if there was a line, I'll grab breakfast after.
There was a line; a freaking huge line. It wrapped around the building and I ended up standing in front of the loading dock. The kind folks directly in front shared their head count of about 140-150 people. I cringed.
It started raining about 7:15 and didn't let up for 30 minutes. Also nice. But I figured if I didn't get one, this isn't the most horrible waste of 90 minutes.
A strange thing happens when you're in line waiting for a consumer electronics with like-minded people; you bond much in the way military people do on the battlefield (and I should know as a liberal white guy who never served). Or something.
Around 7:30 AM two red-shirts started coming down the line. When they reached me they gave me a ticket that said #129. They got three behind me, to #132, and then announced they're out. No more. Go home. I stared straight forward and feared for my life in case of riot. Thankfully, the rabble-rouser's disbanded.
We finally walked into the Target a little after eight; nice to be in out of the rain. But our line stayed in formation down to the home electronics section, where TWO people were checking us out one at a time.
Moods lifted inside as everyone know they were to get a Wii. And finally, at 9:35, I got a Wii.
So I got home, got it setup, got it configured, and played around. This is, honestly, so much fun. More fun than the Xbox or 360 was on launch day. Even the girls got into it.
Moods lifted inside as everyone know they were to get a Wii. And finally, at 9:35, I got a Wii.
So I got home, got it setup, got it configured, and played around. This is, honestly, so much fun. More fun than the Xbox or 360 was on launch day. Even the girls got into it.
The dramatic moments and humor danced especially well in this episode. Perhaps the most insightful and humorous moment into Dexter's mind came as he was watching a chick-flick: Rita is of course crying, sucked into the moment during what Dexter hoped would be a 'light' evening; whereas Dexter cannot make an emotional connection with what he sees and realizes it. He then thinks to himself, "Maybe if I don't blink my eyes will water up." Heh.
This episode opens with Dexter beginning to process the abandoned hospital where Tony Tucci was found as a crime scene. He tells us that it feels somehow disrespectful to have so many people "pawing around" what was, for a while anyway, the sanctuary of the Ice Truck Killer.
Meanwhile Rita has spoken to a housekeeper (Yelina) at the hotel where she works, called the "Z" hotel and found that Yelina's fiancé has not arrived from Cuba (illegally) and the man she had hired to get him to America had disappeared since asking for more money that Yelina did not have. Rita has offered to take the matter to Dexter and so she does.
Meanwhile Rita has spoken to a housekeeper (Yelina) at the hotel where she works, called the "Z" hotel and found that Yelina's fiancé has not arrived from Cuba (illegally) and the man she had hired to get him to America had disappeared since asking for more money that Yelina did not have. Rita has offered to take the matter to Dexter and so she does.
Dexter learns that many Cubans in Miami have paid to have family brought to America, only to lose the money they paid. From hearing how the Cubans are victimized, Dexter discovers who it is that is need of his particular brand of justice. Jorge Castillo may be number 3 on the department's list of suspects for being the coyote (the man taking money to get Cubans into America), but he is Dexter's number one. He is convinced after meeting Jorge that he is the man behind the missing Cubans. He runs an auto junk yard, with no neighbors nearby, and has no employees working for him. It is the perfect place for human trafficking, or worse, according to Dexter.
Dexter's personal project turns out to be conducting surveillance on Jorge Castillo to gather proof that he in fact deserves to be "Dextered." While he doing his detective work; Rita is having trouble with hers. First she caused Tony Tucci to become reserved when she suggested blindfolding him to help trigger his memory from his time with the Ice Truck Killer and now, she is arguing with Doakes and Lt. LaGuerta over whether a potential witness (a man apparently walking his dog) got a good look at the Ice Truck Killer or not.
While getting ready to "Dexterize" Jorge, Dexter discovers that Jorge's wife is not the innocent he thought she was, but is fully complicit in his guilt and aware of what is really going on. This episode will see our first time Dexter takes out two victims simultaneously. But not before another hysterical scene where he pumps them on relationship advice, observing that they are cold-blooded killers like him, and have found a way to make it work.
