Grand Theft Auto IV!

Hah!

I have beaten Grand Theft Auto IV, and I feel proud of myself. It's the first console game I've completed in a long while.

In any case, I took the path of revenge to beat the game, and I'm wondering what would have happened if I had chosen to strike a deal. Shame I can't do both. I can, however, use the marvelous internet to find out what does happen in the other ending.

I think I can guess, though.

Beyond GTA IV, if you happen to keep track of games, and what is in development, you may have spotted a game called Dead Space . There happen to be a few videos of the gameplay and stuff up and the moment, and it looks to be like Resident Evil 4- in space!

Space being one the best places ever for any kind of horror game, since near anything can happen in space, because it is huge huge huge.

Anyway, I think I'll try and beat Bioshock next.

Still More Summer Break

Summer has been alright, so far.

I'm really close to beating GTA IV and I've already been to a pretty swoo restaurant. Ton's Mongolian Grill is the home to some of the best food I've had in a restaurant for a good while. In addition to this, I recommend you use oyster sauce, even if not a lot, if you ever go over there.

In terms of movies, I've seen nil during the actual break. While school was still in however, I did manage to see Iron Man, a movie that raised the bar of what super hero movies should be for a good while, and Speed Racer, which will no doubt be under appreciated as a movie. If you get the chance, I'd recommend both of these movies, as they're all in all good stuff.

Anyways, books. I've been reading books. Specifically, The Dresden Files. All of the books, from novel number 10 to novel number 1, have been superb reads. They're all written in much the same format, and aren't overly long by any means. Each novel introduces something new, and the plot really does start to kick around in Death Masks, the 5th or so book. So, if you have time to kill, read away.

Summer Break!

I'm on summer break!

While my plans for summer certainly aren't set in stone, I'm happy to have this 10 weeks to do some stuff. Maybe even beat GTA IV!


In other news, just thought I'd pass along this video




Tim Minchin is great.

Beyond that, I've started to play Battlefield 2142 again. Lots more fun than I remember.

Woo, that was quite a pause.

I've been neglecting this page, it seems.


From April 16th to May 27th. A gap that shouldn't happen again.

School is... nearly over. We have a rough 2 weeks or so, with one week that could be called a "not-week", when you consider that it is all exams. Fun fun, no?

I started to play GTA4 whilst I was occupied elsewhere, and I have to say, it is one of the greatest games I've ever played. I'm sure I've clocked in more than a half a day in terms of game time, and just about reached 40% completion. The game has longevity, alright? I could play it forever, if they kept adding missions.

Which would be a great idea, what with XBox Live content distribution.

Beyond that, I don't have too much to say, beyond one thing.

A career in the defense contractor business. What do you think? Northrop Grumman or Boeing. Or something.

Take mechanical engineering in college, spend some time working here and there, work for Lockheed-Martin's "exciting new stuff" department.

Maybe appear on TV one day. Science, Military, or Discovery channels. Maybe even History channel, when I'm a good deal older than I ever thought I would be (especially when you consider what medical technology is doing these days, what will it be doing in a good 50 or 60?).



So, summer is coming, I'm excited.

Music?

I myself don't have a music collection, but I'm starting to think of my tastes beyond what my brother has already imprinted in me.

For instance, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds seem to be a great band.


Also, there is a bluegrass band called The Pine Box Boys, and they seem neat.
So, yeah. A visit to Barnes & Noble or somesuch may be in my future.

In the interlude between my postings, I've seen the movie "Stop-Loss". I suppose it's keen, though it wasn't what I thought it would be.
It also seemed shorter than it should be.

In other news, the school year is nearly over for some of us, with less than 10 weeks sitting on the calendar.

I'm gonna be looking forward to sitting about for a few months, and losing track of the date.

I've been playing more Team Fortress 2 lately. While I've been trying to play classes other than the Pyro, I've been failing at it.



P.S. Stephen Colbert is in Philadelphia! How great is that? Perhaps, many years from now, he will come to Texas, and I will get to... try and sit in the front row, and slap hands with him. Maybe. Also, there happens to be this little business of Iron Man getting a movie that comes out next month, and the new James Bond (following the awesome reboot Casino Royale offered) in late October. My birth month!

Hello hello, blog.

For those of you reading this, who were at my house this past Spring break Saturday, I assure you this title's subtitle is "Damn you, Sams!".

Damn them for their keen business sense, that is.

The reason I'm posting today is that, this Saturday, I went to a "Lone Star Comics" store. You may notice that "South Arlington" is on that list of locations. 4001 West Green Oaks Blvd, it so happens.

I bought a nifty "best-of" volume for Wolverine, which had a few choice old comics, a rather hard to look at comic by Todd McFarlane, and some more recent comics, all of which, I have to say, enjoyed.

Whether or not I will make this into an interest, I dunno. Did you know there were Battlestar Galactica comics? I saw those.

I also saw something marked off as "Ultimate X-Men", on issue 99 if I recall. That, if anything, astounded me. I was under the impression most comics today took the form of the odd graphic novel, or a semi-long series around 20 issues long.

But here was this.

The pros I can see from getting into comics would have to be
1. Small packages of entertainment
2. Near-weekly updates
3. Low price(?)
4. A small market you would be helping

The cons I can see though
1. Large eventual cost

And I can't think of anything else.

If you can think of any cons, please do tell me.

In another bit of news, I bought "At the Mountains of Madness" by H.P. Lovecraft. H.P. Lovecraft, even for a racist, could write man. I gotta tell ya. I havn't been able to criticize it yet, and I think, if there is anything I will have to get addicted to, it will be the Cthulhu Mythos.

Anyways, Nestea pong. We gotta do it some time.

Well,

It's now Spring Break, yet I don't seem to have anything planned.

There is a slight possibility I'll be invited to a friend's house, though. To play Smash Brothers Brawl, it so happens. Last night I got my first taste of the game when one of my brother's friends came here with the game in tow.

If you ask me, the game is genius, and seems like it would make a great party game if nothing else. A few of the characters seem kind've clunky, but my opinion on that may change I guess.

Also, after digging around my trusty History textbook, I started to wonder about traitors. To be specific, Mexican traitors who joined the Texans in the Texas Revolution.

What would they have thought of doing this? Here they are caught between the dictator of Mexico, who goes ahead and executes those who don't agree with him. On the other hand, the revolutionaries certainly weren't dictators. They were however very prone to infighting, and the government, let alone Texas's fledgling military, could rarely work together.

While they may have been bound to Mexico for their own reasons, I'd have gotten fed up of the entire cause, and would have tried fleeing to Louisiana by boat or somesuch.

In other news, I looked up the word "bower", for Orchestra it so happens. Starting after Spring break we'll be getting into fiddle tunes, and the title of the first song is "Will You Come to the Bower?". I have to confess, I don't have at all an idea of what a bower is. I know a boyer is someone who makes bows, but I didn't, and still don't, think they relate.

Bower : 1. A shaded, leafy recess; an arbor. 2. A woman's private chamber in a medieval castle; a boudoir. 3. A rustic cottage; a country retreat.

I myself think the 3rd one applies.

Lazy Mondays

Although it is nearly Tuesday local time, just thought I'd mention a few things:

It's snowing outside!
Army of Two, tomorrow! Will my brother buy it?


In closing, homework can take too long some days.

Saturday Morning Cartoons

While it has been some time since my last post, I haven't had too much to talk about. Today, while I was watching cartoons, I came to the startling realization that all the good shows with super heroes, action, and such greatness as Animaniacs are mostly gone, and replaced by awkward things like "Eon Kid", and this "Skunk Fu" business. Plus, after doing some digging, I found this startling bit of news:

Last week The CW announced that it was dropping the 13-year-old Kids WB! franchise at the end of this season. Replacing it will be content from 4Kids Entertainment, which has been providing FOX with Saturday morning programming for the last six years.

That, if anything, seems soulless. Plus, 4kids is a horrible, horrible substitute for what used to be the best morning block on TV.

In other, much better, news I just started reading Dauntless: The Lost Fleet and I have to say I disagree with the reviewer. While the beginning is somewhat slow, the novel seems amazingly solid to me. While I admit the main character seems like a figurehead at first, but by the midpoint of the book he isn't.

In closing, considering taking the book for a spin. It isn't so futuristic to the point that you can't understand what is happening, but everything in the setting is suitably familiar enough to picture.

Two posts, one day?!

While it may seem odd for me to post twice in one day, I had a good chat with some of my extended family today. So, I decided to make a quick commentary on it while it is still semi fresh in my head.

First off, political talk. It seems most of my family are democrats, as they are mostly divided between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. They got into some heated debate, which I found interesting. For one, they brought up the question of whether or not the U.S. needs a president who is willing to do anything to win, or a president who is overall superior (the latter of those two I got wrong, I know). If you happened to ask me, I'd say a president of the 2nd category would be better, as a president who will do anything to win will no doubt have an odd way of "goal" based governing, I'd think. For an example, if Bush were to fall into the 1st category of president, consider how he stripped the citizenry of various rights (phone tapping and the like) in order to better the defense of the nation. I dare say that this wasn't an overly effective thing to do, and a more thought out plan could have happened, given proper thoughts and advice from all of the government's resources.

Imagine now if something more drastic were to take place? I dare say it wouldn't turn out well.

Next, we had various talk about computer games. We talked about Gears of War 2, recently unveiled at the GDC, a game called APB, Age of Conan, Warhammer Online, and Defense of the Ancients (oddly enough).

While we didn't talk about it, I was tempted to bring up Battlefield Heroes, a free game from EA. Another part of the Battlefield franchise, it does a complete 360 degree turn, considering that it not only a 3rd person game, but in a cartoon-like style. No doubt it will be entertaining, but I think that EA going this way is bound to lead to trouble. While a free game like this seems like a good idea, look at what Korea is up to. They have a multitude of free games of low quality, with low specifications. If the Western game market becomes like that for the PC, I'd be rather disappointed at the stagnation that would no doubt occur.


As a side note, if anyone does read this blog, please do leave comments. Criticism and more would be well appreciated.

Saturday Today

Well, it's Saturday, and the blog is about a week old, and has four posts to it. If I keep this up, I'll have a few tons of text amassed in a month or two.

Beyond that exciting news, I have started to watch G4TV's coverage of the Game Developer Conference. It's been pretty interesting so far, and a game caught my eye. This is Vegas seems to be the most interesting game I've seen so far. The synopsis, as provided by the game's developers, is

When a powerful businessman begins turning Vegas into a family-friendly tourist trap, you must start your own powerful empire and resurrect the famous adult playground. Party hard at the hottest clubs to make VIP connections. Grow your bankroll by hitting high stakes tables. Race the fastest cars on the underground circuit to raise your reputation. Fight off enemies with fists and firearms to prove your strength. Where you go and what you do is your call whether counting cards, seducing dangerous women, cruising the strip or starting bar brawls, there’s lots of excitement on the way to the top.

And that seems pretty interesting to me. The game has a few screenshots, but the one that has caught my eye would have to be this one. The game appears oddly stylized, and if it releases for the XBox 360, I think I'll have to ask my brother to look into it.

In keeping with my trends...

Since I have been posting daily, I suppose I will make a post today. Not much happened.

There has been a question on a piece of homework that has been bugging me, though.

Beyond that, it was a good day. I read an interesting article called "Quest for Alexander's Lost Tribe," about how Alexander the Great left groups of his soldiers around. For instance, there is a group of them in this secluded valley in Pakistan, that look European in comparison to the rest of Pakistan's citizenry.

When you consider how many options that gives for cultures and such, such as how these people worship variants of the Greek gods, it makes you think and stuff about the past and how it works out. Odd how the world works out, I suppose.




Those two pictures are of a fort in a valley that these people inhabit. In the first, you can see the fort around the dead middle of the picture, near the foot of that hill. The fort is 700 years old, and I'm guessing the view from it would be keen.

If I ever go to Pakistan one day, I think I'd have to take a detour that-a-ways to satisfy my curiosity.

School: Beyond the Books and into the Aether that is the Net

So, in 5th period Math today, the teacher went onto the Internet, and used this nifty business of a video tutor to explain some stuff.

Really, I thought this was a good way for education to go. If you can put a video tutor up, why not, oh, a video game or two used to recreate periods of history, or a virtual "lab"? I mean, it seems as though NASA is thinking along these lines, and wants to make an MMO. It seems like a good idea to me, assuming of course they get a few worthwhile ideas. I'm confident it wouldn't be as fun, or commercially successful, as any mainstream games of the same type, though. But then again, does NASA really need money?

In other news, you may have noticed a list of links on the right hand side of this blog. I added those as an afterthought the other day, and I'll probably add to it as I go along. So, be sure to look at that now and again if the want to have something to look at that interests me and may interest you.

As more time goes by, I think I'll add a bit where I say what books I'm reading, and what books I've read, as a sort of reading list, I suppose.

Beyond that, did you know the band Spoon was from Austin, Tx? They sound pretty good.

I have made a blog.

Let it be known, for all of the World Wide Web to see, that on this day, President's Day it so happens, that I have made a blog upon which to post my musings as they come to me.

By the way, did you guys know about a nifty game called Sins of a Solar Empire? It combines several things that I love: science fiction, real-time strategy, and space. If I have the opportunity to procure it anytime soon, I may review it or something. That'd be keen, I suppose.