Like a Lakers' Game, Minus Kobe
We went to a wedding reception Saturday night, and I must say it was very odd. I'm used to wedding receptions filled with drinking, eating, and middle-aged white people dancing to cliched wedding music. This one had an MC who announced the members of the wedding party. Each of them had their own music and most did a little dance. Kinda like the beginning of a basketball game.
Then they had some girls doing a hip-hop dance. Like a half-time show. Just really weird overall. I'm told the event was very "Bay Area", as well as quite "Filipino". Maybe I'd get it if I were either of those.
(posted by grant at 6/25/2007)
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Shave Everywhere
Phillips deserves major credit for creating the best ad campaign ever for their new bodygroom device. Go to this website and enjoy. Watch the intro, then mouse over "Main Menu" and go to The Basics. Before you click on the questions, wait a bit and listen to his responses. My favorite: "The longer you wait, the longer your pubes get."
"Where to Shave" is also good, but the documentary found in "History" is the best part. You might also enjoy the music video. The entire thing is just brilliant -- it reminds me of Saturday Night Live...when it was funny. I almost want to buy the thing now.
Shaveeverywhere.com deserves a special place on your browser, right next to Chucknorrisfacts.com.
(posted by grant at 6/20/2007)
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Sigh
Item number one -- the internets are full of morons. When EA announced Battlefield 2142 would have in-game ads the world exploded with EA hate. How dare they! people cried. Turns out 2142 was a really good, polished game and the ads weren't that intrusive at all. Maybe they didn't support them as much as originally intended or maybe they just handled them well. However, Activision announces Enemy Territory: Quake Wars will also have in-game ads...
...and people are fine with it. The publisher said the ads will fund future development and support. No shit! Ads are an additional revenue stream and every bit of revenue arguably helps the business. And what business are we in? Oh yeah, making games. Battlefield ads equal greed, Quake Wars ad equal putting the consumer first.
(posted by grant at 6/20/2007)
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Change...We Fear Change
Shacknews just completely changed their site layout and...pretty much everything about the website. Looks good so far, though it'll take some getting used to. Seeing as how a good percentage of the community is still complaining about Late Night Consoling being turned into Boxed Up Briefs, I wonder what sort of furious explosion this will cause?
I gave the Overlord Demo a spin finally on my 360 this weekend and the game completely rocked. I'll basically re-hash what everyone else has already said: Take Pikmin, throw in some Dungeon Keeper, then mix it all in with a fantasy world, sense of humor, and feel of Fable.
The voice acting for your chief minion is really great and the behavior of your devious little minions are pretty funny. They scavenge for better equipment, and at one point one of my little guys was running around with a pumpkin for a helmet. There was another portion in the demo where I sent them into a field to destroy a flock of sheep. They then loyally brought back the sheeps' energy to me. I just don't think I can pass the game up -- it's too funny and different.
(posted by grant at 6/18/2007)
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Forza Forza Forza
Turn 10 really nailed it with Forza 2. Like the rest of the world, I'm extremely satisfied with the game. The cars feel awesome and the learning curve (as opposed to Gran Turismo's punishment) is extremely satisfying and rewarding. The assists are a brilliant idea, as well as the incentives for turning them off and driving au natural. I hope that's proper French. Actually, I don't care.
The game forces you to compete in a variety of events and drive a multitude of cars, which I've realized is the biggest reason I'll be playing this for a while. With Need For Speed, I always race until I get a really good car. Then, I go all out upgrading it and use that car the rest of the game, or until I quit about 60% through it. NFS doesn't really require you to learn the game, and unlike Forza the tracks don't really make that much of a difference. Hold down the gas, brake occasionally, cross the finish line first -- it's a simple game, which is probably why the mass market loves it.
With Forza I've driven hatchbacks, American cars, muscle cars (they can die), luxury cars, and I'm nowhere finished. The game constantly rewards you with new cars to sample and try out and I'm saving up my cash now to buy myself a Ferrari. Ideally I'd get this one, which Microsoft sponsors.
I've only dabbled with the car layering editor, but it's already a lot of fun. I don't expect to make any masterpieces, but I've made my artistic mark on the world. I spent 20 minutes last night trying to put the SquadZero logo on this '82 Porsche 911 (a bit too heavy in the rear if you ask me) and a little longer creating this flaming skull on my Lancia hatchback. That car rocks in the early races. I swapped the colors on the skull, but I haven't uploaded those photos yet.
I think the community site is also fantastic. With the tournaments, online user pages, auction house, and 60 fps 8 player racing the development team is really pushing Xbox Live. I respect the hell out of that. They could have sat back and still made a game that would fly off shelves. Instead they put the screws to Gran Turismo. I love competition.
(posted by grant at 6/14/2007)
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As If Kicked by A Horse
Co-worker says:
yo
Grant says:
yo
Co-worker says:
is googly eyed girl: random web URL
Grant says:
i don't think so
Grant says:
girl in the photo isn't googly eyed
Grant says:
this girl is actually googly eyed
Co-worker says:
lol
Co-worker says:
ok
Co-worker says:
the mystery sim hunt is on
Grant says:
indeed
(posted by grant at 6/13/2007)
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Get Your Spy On
SOE just announced The Agency, a new spy MMO to be released next year on the PS3 and PC. Kotaku has a cool video up and Chris Remo wrote up his impressions on Shacknews.
The visual style of this game is great, and in a way reminds me of Valve's Team Fortress 2. Maybe not as intense and awesome, but still cool. 3rd person action with some light stealth is always great, and I'm really excited about an MMO succeeding on the consoles. It needs to happen.
Lastly, I greatly appreciate the change of scenery -- most MMOs are swords and fantasy and I'm sick of elves. SOE actually has a pretty good history of trying out different types of MMOs (Planetfall, Star Wars Galaxies), even if Everquest is still their bread and butter. Granted, those games have often failed, but...points awarded for effort.
Definitely one to watch, especially as an exclusive for the PS3.
(posted by grant at 6/11/2007)
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BFD 2007
BFD 2007 was remarkably better than BFD 2006. The bands I wanted to see were all packed in together, and most importantly, the ones I wanted to see were by and large really good. Sum 41 and The Bravery were both disappointments. The Bravery had severe tech troubles, but I was a little sad to see Sum 41 is still trying to run with the "everybody stick your hands up and say fuck!" routine, pioneered by Blink-182 about 8 years ago. It was just really lame, but apparently a big hit with the 12 year olds.
Audrye Sessions and Silversun Pickups were the first stand-out sets of the day. I've never heard Audrye, but they were great. Silversun Pickups didn't let me down either -- awesome stage presence and they really rocked out. I also liked that the entire band was more or less smiling the entire time -- they wanted to be there and it showed. Both bands picked up a few extra points for having cute bassists. If this is a new trend in rock, I'm all for it.
Audrye Sessions
Silversun PickupsThen, the suck. For some reason, Social Distortion was there as well. I have no idea what makes these guys punk or modern rock, but they showed up to "entertain" us with their beer hall crap. They apparently liked the gig so much that they remained on stage about 15 minutes longer than their set allowed. This, or course, meant Bloc Party, the headliners, had to cut their set short. The lead singer even said "we'd like to stay longer. I guess you can blame Social Distortion for that." Oh, I do. They sucked pretty hard. To quote Bart Simpson, they were the suckiest bunch of sucks that every sucked.
(posted by grant at 6/11/2007) (0) comments
Killing My Lobster!
I went and saw Killing My Lobster Saves the Day last night at the Eureka Theatre. They're an SF comedy sketch company. It was a small play featuring a series of vignettes about super heroes. Sounded good to me. Sadly, the barely used the super hero references and jokes that were there for the taking.
I didn't expect them to get all geeky with intricate comic references -- that would suck and honestly wouldn't hit their audience well. But some scripts were really just weird, random characters with a slight super hero glaze. More SNL than comic spoof. I guess I expected more spandex. They also did a few short films that were moderately funny, but I honestly just wanted to see a live play.
They did have a few awesome sketches, particularly two involving Peter Pan. The actor playing Peter was brilliant, with over exaggerated movements (great for stage) and extremely feminine features. It was like Jack from Will & Grace in green tights. The character was such a natural fit for a super hero spoof play and I'm surprised nobody thought of it before.
The Lobster folk also did these really cool jazz themed scenes where they...jazzed...with excitement over each other's capes and tights. Good stuff. I also really liked the one with the French super hero on vacation. Then again, making fun of the French always amuses me.
Definitely worth the money, but it wasn't as good as it could have been.
(posted by grant at 6/08/2007)
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Hitler's Gamer Score
Just saw this at work. Somebody took an old World War II movie in German and changed all the subtitles to a rant about Xbox Live. He attacks the Wii, the PS3 -- it's hilarious. I laughed so hard. Then again, it could have just been a 3 minute video with Hitler screaming and I'd be laughing. I don't find what he did amusing, but Hitler as a comedic character always makes me laugh.
I love German comedy. Or comedy making fun of Germans. One of those.
Here's the link, in case you missed it the first time -- best 4 minutes you'll spend all day.
(posted by grant at 6/07/2007)
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I Got Knocked Up...and I Liked It
Went to a 9 o'clock showing of Knocked Up at the Van Ness AMC last night -- totally happy with the film. I didn't have any doubts, because everyone I know (including the 'rents) loved it and it was pretty much my type of humor. Katherine Heigl really surprised me, and of course Seth Rogan did a good job again. I guess I'm always surprised when TV stars don't suck in movies.
Still haven't played Forza 2. I put it in the disk drive, but that's it. Tonight's not looking good either, as I'm heading to a comedy show. Then Friday's, well, Friday, and I'm spending all day Saturday at the BFD concert. I must say, I'm very excited about seeing Interpol and Queens of the Stone Age for the first time, even if it is at the crap venue that is Shoreline. Seeing Bloc Party again is also great -- really good live act.
I'm coming Forza 2, I swear. I love you.
(posted by grant at 6/07/2007)
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More Like Customer Dis-Service...Zang!
After about 4 hours with the demo I finally decided to purchase Forza Motorsport 2 yesterday. Copies have been scarce at all of my local Best Buys, so being the clever sort I went online, purchased my copy, and selected the "pick up in store" option. Ten minutes later I have an email that says "your game is ready for pick up". Haha! Reserved copies for the win.
A friend and I went to Best Buy over lunch. We walked to the game shelves, where the employee already knew what we were asking for, and he directed us to the front where they had mountains of copies waiting by the registers. I then went to customer service for my copy. I am so goddamn stupid sometimes.
Twenty minutes after my friend had his copy and receipt in hand, I was still at the counter standing behind two non-English speakers trying to get a credit card to buy a Sony laptop...or toaster. It could have been a toaster. Finally, finally the dude checked me out and I went to the parking lot to find a cop parked behind me so he could ticket some other customers. I then got to perform the ever-awkward, "uh, could you move officer?"
I would have played my new game last night, but I was too busy falling asleep at 10:30 to give it a spin.
(posted by grant at 6/06/2007)
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True Story
"Why do you head butt me?" asked the boy.
"Because I can," replied the girl.
(posted by grant at 6/05/2007)
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Story of a Migrant Farm Worker
A bit too dramatic? I did drive between multiple orchards and fruit was picked (by me) at all of them. So I shall wear this badge. With pride.
We drove east from the city about an hour and a half to Brentwood, where there are multiple fruit orchards offering nectarines, peaches and cherries. At $2 a pound we bought $16 of peaches and a few nectarines, and we nabbed an astonishing 7 pounds of delicious cherries. I'm talking buckets full of fruit. So much that I could open a roadside stand and finally turn a profit from this harsh, migrant farm worker lifestyle.
Too much?
Even now as I finish off my nth cherry they are still awesome. I've never really cared for cherries but these are so damn good. Juicy and full of flavor. When we ate our peaches driving home they just exploded all over the place. I believe Borat would describe it as a "romance explosion".
Some pictures! Notice the cherry glazed baked chicken we made with our hard earned harvest.
(posted by grant at 6/04/2007)
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Easily Amused
We passed this sign on the way to the orchards and I busted a quick u-turn. I just couldn't resist the photo.
I wonder if the inhabitants of this road babble incoherently and on occasion, pee themselves?
(posted by grant at 6/04/2007)
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Ah, Friday
Every other Friday the company provides breakfast. So lately, I've brought donuts on off Fridays. I like to create stories to announce the donuts, because it's more amusing for me. I like Fridays.
I think we're going to pick fruit at an orchard this Saturday, which sounds fun. And we got tickets from our friend to see the A's play the Twins Saturday night. Hopefully I can finish the Fighters Guild and Thieves Guild quests in Oblivion as well...
(posted by grant at 6/01/2007)
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