The Alanis Morissette song Ironic is probably the funniest song I've heard in a long time, simply because it doesn't know it's making itself look like an idiot.
Here's the first verse and a bit of the courus:
An old man turned ninety-eight
He won the lottery and died the next day
It's a black fly in your Chardonnay
It's a death row pardon two minutes too late
Isn't it ironic ... don't you think
It's like rai-aaaain on your wedding day
It's a free ri-iiiide when you've already paid
It's the good advice that you just didn't take
Who would've thought ... it figures
Now, that isn't ironic. That's just plain bad luck. Arguably, it gets worse:
Mr. Play It Safe was afraid to fly
He packed his suitcase and kissed his kids good-bye
He waited his whole damn life to take that flight
And as the plane crashed down he thought
'Well isn't this nice...'
And isn't it ironic ... don't you think
No, not really. There's a sub-courus that I want to take the piss out of, too:
It's a traffic jam when you're already late
It's a no-smoking sign on your cigarette break
It's like ten thousand spoons when all you need is a knife
The last line is brilliant. For those who have seen Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, the solution to this would seem simple. For all of those who haven't seen it, the solution would be to 'dig the person who brought all the spoons heart with, funilly enough, a spoon'. Why a spoon? Why not an axe? Because it's dull, you twit. It'll hurt more.
The song should instead be called 'Really bad luck', but I suspect it didn't have as good a ring to it.
The funniest part of the entire song is the song istelf, because the only ironic part is the fact that the song isn't ironic at all, and that's what makes it so deliciously tragic.
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Heroes of Might and Magic
Hold onto your hats, folks, because it's time for me to post my first real review.
=================
Lets get one thing straight: I fnc&ing loved Heroes of Might and Magic 3.
I loved it as a child, and it's still on my top 5 games of all time list despite it's age. It was my first real exposure to turn based games, and I regret (ever so slightly) not being with the series from HOMAM 1. I loved every inch #3, from the various different towns to the combat to the map editor. And, as time went by, I lost the disk and haven't seen it since, which saddened me greatly. The graphics were (I think) cell-shaded, and the music, especially the combat music, was great. And the map editor was extremely easy to use, even the 'programming' for campaigns and missions were easy enough to understand.
So, after I lost the disk I sort of lost the Heroes series. 3DO and New World Computing kind of broke apart like a piece of soggy toast drifting on a river, and 3DO gave the rights to none other than Ubisoft. I didn't know at the time, but I saw HOMAM 4 on sale in a bargain bin sort of thing at, if memory serves me right, a Dick Smith Electronics store.
I was estatic. A new Heroes game. Ok, it was made by a different company, but it can't be that different to the original games. Surely. I mean, the core gameplay of HOMAM worked well, wo why fix what isn't broke, right?
I was naive and stupid back then. I was about... 10? 11?
So, I slammed it into the disk drive, installed the game (and the two expansion packs since it was the gold edition) and set down to feel a nice wave of nostalgia.
I can't decribe what I felt when I first played through one of the campaigns for it. It was like playing a game you love and then watching a movie about it (take Max Payne or Farcry[no jokes, Farcry the movie]) and thinking 'This is the biggest piece of $#!t I've ever seen. It does no justice to it's predecessors. I feel like vomiting blood.'
So, I still hold it today as one of the worst games to have ever been released, at least for PC. Lets go through the many, many reasons why.
1. The towns changed a lot. Instead of the normal 7 creatures a tow, it has 2 creature hovels to start with and three others, and you can only choose one of the two. This means you have a small army to begin with, and a patheticly small army further on in the game. The reason for this is...
2. ...The hero system drasticly changed. Instead of having one hero, you can now have multiple heroes which act a lot like the units themselves, except that the heroes can level up, use items, cast spells, etc. The more heroes you have the slower they get XP, so the whole 'just hire more heroes to fill the void of having flak-all creatures' argument is tragicly shot down like a WWII aircraft carrying brave soldiers into the thick of battle. It also means you can have an entire hero based army, but doing so will mean your heroes reach level 2 by the time the enemy has a level 7 hero and a full sized army, or you just screw the whole hero business and make a creature based army, although the creatures will find it difficult to stand against a hero'd army, and it just hangs a big fat question mark over whyy you would even bother to change the original concept. This also means your heroes are subject to die just like creatures, and you control them just like a normal creature too, adding to the question mark.
3. As I may have already mentioned, the whole creature system changed too. Instead of the usual 7 creature based army, you have 2 creatures to start with and you must choose your future creatures because you can't have both, it's one or the other, which means you have to put unnecessary thinking into how you go about making your force, and since you usually don't know what your opponent's going to use you have no idea what to get, and you can't take any choices back.
4. Another gripe with the heroes is they never truely die. Their 'tombstone' if you will is left on the ground where they died and you have to fetch it before the enemy does, becuase if the enemies get it they through them inside their town prison and you have to buy the hero back. I can't remember whether or not there is a 'You know what, hero? You cocked up and now I'm removing you from existance' button, because i really couldn't care less about the hero unless he was especially high level.
5. Assaulting an enemy castle was different, too. If I remember correctly, you attack the walls head on with your units or wait for the enemy to step out of their castle. Because of the terrible camera position all the enemies directly behind the wall are invisible, and you can't select them becuase they're behind a wall, which is bad for both you and the person defending. No problem for the computer player though, the bastard.
6. Yet another problem with the heroes is the fact that there are might oriented heroes and magic oriented heroes. It's a pretty petty complaint, but surely it can't be that hard to just have a universal hero like every other HOMAM game, but apparently for Ubisoft that would be too much to ask. (No need to point out that HOMAM games had Death Knights and Necromancers too, but at least there was only one of them as your primary hero.)
7. All the creatures are tossed about randomly and thrown into different towns whoch is especially annoying because it means getting used to a whole different unit set. Remember how the Griffin almost always used to belong with the humans? No longer, because the griffins in #4 belong with the nature guys, which wouldn't have been so bad if they had not totally screwed up the graphics on it which made it look like some four year old put it together in Spore. Speaking of which,
8. The graphics for HOMAM 3, while cell-shaded, looked pretty good. HOMAM 4 has shoddy graphics that some fresh-out-of-university 3D graphics design major built, and look like they were constructed using clay and jelly. I don't know why they made the graphics look so goddamn awful, maybe it was because their budget was spent on making the game a total failure with all the previous HOMAM fans. The dragon/s, the griffin, the archdevil, the centaur, the behemoth, the harpy, the archangel, every elemental, the satyr, the tiger, the unicorn (a rainbow mane for god sake?), the dwarves, the naga, and the orcs (I can forgive these guys) all looked like absolute $#!t, and this isn't including the terrain and towns that look like crap as well. (I suppose I shouldn't be too mean, the way they made the units look different in #3 was by altering the model of the original unit slightly. But remembering that that's the same way they handled the units in #5, by re-skinning them, I suppose I can't complain much.)
9. I'm running out of things to rag on, but there was one last complaint I was saving until now, and thats the- wait, damnit. Lost it.
I suppose #4 must have received some reviews that were less than kind, and so Ubisoft pulled their head out of their oversized ass and made Heroes 5, but that's another post.
=================
Lets get one thing straight: I fnc&ing loved Heroes of Might and Magic 3.
I loved it as a child, and it's still on my top 5 games of all time list despite it's age. It was my first real exposure to turn based games, and I regret (ever so slightly) not being with the series from HOMAM 1. I loved every inch #3, from the various different towns to the combat to the map editor. And, as time went by, I lost the disk and haven't seen it since, which saddened me greatly. The graphics were (I think) cell-shaded, and the music, especially the combat music, was great. And the map editor was extremely easy to use, even the 'programming' for campaigns and missions were easy enough to understand.
So, after I lost the disk I sort of lost the Heroes series. 3DO and New World Computing kind of broke apart like a piece of soggy toast drifting on a river, and 3DO gave the rights to none other than Ubisoft. I didn't know at the time, but I saw HOMAM 4 on sale in a bargain bin sort of thing at, if memory serves me right, a Dick Smith Electronics store.
I was estatic. A new Heroes game. Ok, it was made by a different company, but it can't be that different to the original games. Surely. I mean, the core gameplay of HOMAM worked well, wo why fix what isn't broke, right?
I was naive and stupid back then. I was about... 10? 11?
So, I slammed it into the disk drive, installed the game (and the two expansion packs since it was the gold edition) and set down to feel a nice wave of nostalgia.
I can't decribe what I felt when I first played through one of the campaigns for it. It was like playing a game you love and then watching a movie about it (take Max Payne or Farcry[no jokes, Farcry the movie]) and thinking 'This is the biggest piece of $#!t I've ever seen. It does no justice to it's predecessors. I feel like vomiting blood.'
So, I still hold it today as one of the worst games to have ever been released, at least for PC. Lets go through the many, many reasons why.
1. The towns changed a lot. Instead of the normal 7 creatures a tow, it has 2 creature hovels to start with and three others, and you can only choose one of the two. This means you have a small army to begin with, and a patheticly small army further on in the game. The reason for this is...
2. ...The hero system drasticly changed. Instead of having one hero, you can now have multiple heroes which act a lot like the units themselves, except that the heroes can level up, use items, cast spells, etc. The more heroes you have the slower they get XP, so the whole 'just hire more heroes to fill the void of having flak-all creatures' argument is tragicly shot down like a WWII aircraft carrying brave soldiers into the thick of battle. It also means you can have an entire hero based army, but doing so will mean your heroes reach level 2 by the time the enemy has a level 7 hero and a full sized army, or you just screw the whole hero business and make a creature based army, although the creatures will find it difficult to stand against a hero'd army, and it just hangs a big fat question mark over whyy you would even bother to change the original concept. This also means your heroes are subject to die just like creatures, and you control them just like a normal creature too, adding to the question mark.
3. As I may have already mentioned, the whole creature system changed too. Instead of the usual 7 creature based army, you have 2 creatures to start with and you must choose your future creatures because you can't have both, it's one or the other, which means you have to put unnecessary thinking into how you go about making your force, and since you usually don't know what your opponent's going to use you have no idea what to get, and you can't take any choices back.
4. Another gripe with the heroes is they never truely die. Their 'tombstone' if you will is left on the ground where they died and you have to fetch it before the enemy does, becuase if the enemies get it they through them inside their town prison and you have to buy the hero back. I can't remember whether or not there is a 'You know what, hero? You cocked up and now I'm removing you from existance' button, because i really couldn't care less about the hero unless he was especially high level.
5. Assaulting an enemy castle was different, too. If I remember correctly, you attack the walls head on with your units or wait for the enemy to step out of their castle. Because of the terrible camera position all the enemies directly behind the wall are invisible, and you can't select them becuase they're behind a wall, which is bad for both you and the person defending. No problem for the computer player though, the bastard.
6. Yet another problem with the heroes is the fact that there are might oriented heroes and magic oriented heroes. It's a pretty petty complaint, but surely it can't be that hard to just have a universal hero like every other HOMAM game, but apparently for Ubisoft that would be too much to ask. (No need to point out that HOMAM games had Death Knights and Necromancers too, but at least there was only one of them as your primary hero.)
7. All the creatures are tossed about randomly and thrown into different towns whoch is especially annoying because it means getting used to a whole different unit set. Remember how the Griffin almost always used to belong with the humans? No longer, because the griffins in #4 belong with the nature guys, which wouldn't have been so bad if they had not totally screwed up the graphics on it which made it look like some four year old put it together in Spore. Speaking of which,
8. The graphics for HOMAM 3, while cell-shaded, looked pretty good. HOMAM 4 has shoddy graphics that some fresh-out-of-university 3D graphics design major built, and look like they were constructed using clay and jelly. I don't know why they made the graphics look so goddamn awful, maybe it was because their budget was spent on making the game a total failure with all the previous HOMAM fans. The dragon/s, the griffin, the archdevil, the centaur, the behemoth, the harpy, the archangel, every elemental, the satyr, the tiger, the unicorn (a rainbow mane for god sake?), the dwarves, the naga, and the orcs (I can forgive these guys) all looked like absolute $#!t, and this isn't including the terrain and towns that look like crap as well. (I suppose I shouldn't be too mean, the way they made the units look different in #3 was by altering the model of the original unit slightly. But remembering that that's the same way they handled the units in #5, by re-skinning them, I suppose I can't complain much.)
9. I'm running out of things to rag on, but there was one last complaint I was saving until now, and thats the- wait, damnit. Lost it.
I suppose #4 must have received some reviews that were less than kind, and so Ubisoft pulled their head out of their oversized ass and made Heroes 5, but that's another post.
Sunday, September 13, 2009
DAZ 3D
I've been playing around with, as the name implies, DAZ 3D. Now, I know it's supposed to be difficult when you start, but most things (like the Warcraft III Map Editor) are picked up relitivly easily by some people, but 3D art programs are the toughest and DAZ is no exception. Although it wouldn't be so bad if the tutorials they gave you actually helped. Clearly, they didn't take into account the fact that the person watching this video might not know how to, for example, load or find a model, because we have to assume that the person looking at this is a complete beginner that should be walked through every aspect of the easy stuff.
The tutorials for DAZ 3D wern't very well thought out. For example, the first tutorial I watched started off with a background, the figure already there, and just launched right into it and I wanted to say 'That's great guys, but how do I load the models and scenes?', but couldn't get a word in edgeways. As usual, I start off like a lost baby in a forest full of dingos, and I have to fight my way out tooth and claw. Turns out, with enough searching, I found the files in question, but the thing that infuriates me is I shouldn't have to search. You don't give a man a gun, tell him how to reload it and send him off without explaining the trigger. You have to assume he's never seen a gun before, and has no idea how to use it. And you can't just go, 'Oh, well, he'll figure it out', because 80% of the time he won't figure it out and yell 'FV{K IT', toss his gun to the side and get shot.
Ok, the analogys I used may have been a little bit over the top but it was nessesary to prove a point.
The tutorials for DAZ 3D wern't very well thought out. For example, the first tutorial I watched started off with a background, the figure already there, and just launched right into it and I wanted to say 'That's great guys, but how do I load the models and scenes?', but couldn't get a word in edgeways. As usual, I start off like a lost baby in a forest full of dingos, and I have to fight my way out tooth and claw. Turns out, with enough searching, I found the files in question, but the thing that infuriates me is I shouldn't have to search. You don't give a man a gun, tell him how to reload it and send him off without explaining the trigger. You have to assume he's never seen a gun before, and has no idea how to use it. And you can't just go, 'Oh, well, he'll figure it out', because 80% of the time he won't figure it out and yell 'FV{K IT', toss his gun to the side and get shot.
Ok, the analogys I used may have been a little bit over the top but it was nessesary to prove a point.
Death Knights
So, I've been playing my brand new Death Knight, and before sending him to Outland I'm taking him up to sixty in Silithus.
So, level 58 with 5008 health, and it feels as though the Stonelasher Scorpids are lightly armoured civilian cars and I'm a fucking Mammoth Tank from C&C. I mean, I'm steamrolling my way through the various flavoures of insect (not counting the Silithid themselves) and racking up plenty of XP for half the work. Not to say that's a bad thing, being a absolute brute would definitly come in handy in Outland.
What i love about the Death Knight so far, apart from his massive damage output and invulnerability versus the denizens of Silithus is his Death Grip ability. I ran him through Arathi Basin just to test him out PVP wise. Death Grip is the ability that lets Death Knights, for no cost, pull a unit/character into melee range.
Now, I can't imagine anything more annoying than being the designated healer for the group and being constantly drawn away and killed by the big armoured tank with the wacking great sword. Feel free to use that tactic.
Another thing I'm impressed by in the Blood talent tree. It seems that whenever I slay an innocent... well, anything, I get 300 health back. Plus, health regeneration is boosted (or at least it is with Blood Presence). I keep seeing all these Death Knights with the Unholy talent tree maxed out. Sure, the zombie following you around is kind of cool, but now I go 'Dude! You're missing out on being vurtually unstopable here!'
So, level 58 with 5008 health, and it feels as though the Stonelasher Scorpids are lightly armoured civilian cars and I'm a fucking Mammoth Tank from C&C. I mean, I'm steamrolling my way through the various flavoures of insect (not counting the Silithid themselves) and racking up plenty of XP for half the work. Not to say that's a bad thing, being a absolute brute would definitly come in handy in Outland.
What i love about the Death Knight so far, apart from his massive damage output and invulnerability versus the denizens of Silithus is his Death Grip ability. I ran him through Arathi Basin just to test him out PVP wise. Death Grip is the ability that lets Death Knights, for no cost, pull a unit/character into melee range.
Now, I can't imagine anything more annoying than being the designated healer for the group and being constantly drawn away and killed by the big armoured tank with the wacking great sword. Feel free to use that tactic.
Another thing I'm impressed by in the Blood talent tree. It seems that whenever I slay an innocent... well, anything, I get 300 health back. Plus, health regeneration is boosted (or at least it is with Blood Presence). I keep seeing all these Death Knights with the Unholy talent tree maxed out. Sure, the zombie following you around is kind of cool, but now I go 'Dude! You're missing out on being vurtually unstopable here!'
Saturday, September 12, 2009
And like a rampaging bull, nothing will stop me
Come hellfire or high water, I will get a Death Knight today. Level 54, two bars from halfway, in Silithus. Wish me luck and I'll keep you posted.
UPDATE, 7:36
I'm 6 bars away from Death Knight already. I'll have one by 9:00 at the latest, I imagine.
UPDATE, 1:19
F#(& YEAH!
Ahem.
I opologise for my Momentary Lapse of Reason. I know i said I'd have one by 9:00, but I got... sidetracked.
UPDATE, 7:36
I'm 6 bars away from Death Knight already. I'll have one by 9:00 at the latest, I imagine.
UPDATE, 1:19
F#(& YEAH!
Ahem.
I opologise for my Momentary Lapse of Reason. I know i said I'd have one by 9:00, but I got... sidetracked.
Friday, September 11, 2009
Black Holes and Revelations
Just been listening to the latest Muse album. And I have to say, it's really good. As is the style with muse, they focus on the sound and music more than the lyrics, which is a refreshing change from todays music. Although, a few songs surprised me a bit.
- Take a bow: Yeah, this was the biggest surprise. The lyrics are... interesting. I wouldn't reccomend it if you have low self esteem.
- Starlight: Starts off well, then has that crhistmas-y sounding music which put me off a bit. It's the most 'today music' sounding track on the album. Personnaly, I would be very surprised if this isn't in New Moon (Twilight movie).
- Supermassive Black Hole: I'm sure we all heard this one when Twilight came out. Still, if you haven't, it's a pretty good track. Good beat, interesting lyrics and a strange music video.
- Map of the Problematique: Arguably the best song on the album. Great beat and starts off brilliantly.
- Soldier's Poem: Another surprising track. Very unlike Muse to have a song with a lot of lyrics. It's still an interesting song, one that I imagine several people can relate too.
- Invincible: Saying this song is a bit slow is kind of an understatment. Once I realized what it was, I flipped to the next track.
- Assassin: Ah, here we go. Starts off well, very well in fact, and the lyrics are good too. The corus is a bit odd, but it's not like 'Odd' is a stranger to Muse music.
- Eco-Politics: Arguably the best song on the album, starting off with a great beat. I'm seeing a pattern in Muse's lyrics, and I'm not sure if it's just this album or not, but many of their lyrics seem to say, essentially and extremely boild down, "Screw the government". Now, that might sound a bit hysterical, but I think I might
be onto something here.
- City of Delusion: Starts off slowly, which initally turned me off the song, but I forced myself to listen to the whole thing. Once you get about one minute into the song, Muse lets you hear the actual song. It hits you like a sledgehammer, leaving you emotionally and physically drained.
- Hoodoo: Another one I was dubious about at first. It starts off really slowly, and it feels like it shoudln't actually be on this album at all. Then you get halfway through the song, it finally gets off it's @$$ and gives you something to listen too. This hits you like a sledgehammer, but unlike the last song you aren't expecting it, and instead of a regular sledgehammer it's a sledgehammer on fire.
- Knights of Cydonia: My all time favourite Muse song. It's just... Awesome.
- Take a bow: Yeah, this was the biggest surprise. The lyrics are... interesting. I wouldn't reccomend it if you have low self esteem.
- Starlight: Starts off well, then has that crhistmas-y sounding music which put me off a bit. It's the most 'today music' sounding track on the album. Personnaly, I would be very surprised if this isn't in New Moon (Twilight movie).
- Supermassive Black Hole: I'm sure we all heard this one when Twilight came out. Still, if you haven't, it's a pretty good track. Good beat, interesting lyrics and a strange music video.
- Map of the Problematique: Arguably the best song on the album. Great beat and starts off brilliantly.
- Soldier's Poem: Another surprising track. Very unlike Muse to have a song with a lot of lyrics. It's still an interesting song, one that I imagine several people can relate too.
- Invincible: Saying this song is a bit slow is kind of an understatment. Once I realized what it was, I flipped to the next track.
- Assassin: Ah, here we go. Starts off well, very well in fact, and the lyrics are good too. The corus is a bit odd, but it's not like 'Odd' is a stranger to Muse music.
- Eco-Politics: Arguably the best song on the album, starting off with a great beat. I'm seeing a pattern in Muse's lyrics, and I'm not sure if it's just this album or not, but many of their lyrics seem to say, essentially and extremely boild down, "Screw the government". Now, that might sound a bit hysterical, but I think I might
be onto something here.
- City of Delusion: Starts off slowly, which initally turned me off the song, but I forced myself to listen to the whole thing. Once you get about one minute into the song, Muse lets you hear the actual song. It hits you like a sledgehammer, leaving you emotionally and physically drained.
- Hoodoo: Another one I was dubious about at first. It starts off really slowly, and it feels like it shoudln't actually be on this album at all. Then you get halfway through the song, it finally gets off it's @$$ and gives you something to listen too. This hits you like a sledgehammer, but unlike the last song you aren't expecting it, and instead of a regular sledgehammer it's a sledgehammer on fire.
- Knights of Cydonia: My all time favourite Muse song. It's just... Awesome.
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Movie Review Time!
So, Underworld: Rise of the Lycans.
Well, it's a prequal, meaning it doesn't have much of a stroy to tell. Rise of the Lycans (ROTL) details the story of how Lucian met... that, um, vampire girl, Whatsherface and knocked her up. It also details the Rise of the Lycans as a society/race which came as a huge surpise to me and the rest of the theatre, because we honestly didn't see it coming. I'll tell you another thing it details: Gore.
There's so much blood on screen you feel like your playing Gears of War or Painkiller, and I swear they spent half the budget on what I like to call 'Blood Physics', essentially how blood reacts when it's gushing out of a severed neck or, for example, cleaved head, or maybe a ruptured torso.
And it seems they spent so much money on the blood effects that they completly forgot to hire a script writer and instead got one of the producers children to write it. All the characters come across as wooden, mainly due to the atrocious diliverance of the lines. And clearly the actors weren't exactly 'in the zone', because the only real performance for me was from Bill Nighy, and even that's arguable. Oh sure, Michael Sheen was good and Rhona Mitra was tolerable but everyone else could have easily been replaced with CGI or a cardboard cutout with blood gushing out of it.
(Note: THis was written at 10:30 and posted now.)
Well, it's a prequal, meaning it doesn't have much of a stroy to tell. Rise of the Lycans (ROTL) details the story of how Lucian met... that, um, vampire girl, Whatsherface and knocked her up. It also details the Rise of the Lycans as a society/race which came as a huge surpise to me and the rest of the theatre, because we honestly didn't see it coming. I'll tell you another thing it details: Gore.
There's so much blood on screen you feel like your playing Gears of War or Painkiller, and I swear they spent half the budget on what I like to call 'Blood Physics', essentially how blood reacts when it's gushing out of a severed neck or, for example, cleaved head, or maybe a ruptured torso.
And it seems they spent so much money on the blood effects that they completly forgot to hire a script writer and instead got one of the producers children to write it. All the characters come across as wooden, mainly due to the atrocious diliverance of the lines. And clearly the actors weren't exactly 'in the zone', because the only real performance for me was from Bill Nighy, and even that's arguable. Oh sure, Michael Sheen was good and Rhona Mitra was tolerable but everyone else could have easily been replaced with CGI or a cardboard cutout with blood gushing out of it.
(Note: THis was written at 10:30 and posted now.)
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Music
You know, a lot of people stop me on the street. A vast majority of those people are cops wanting to know where I got the shiny new Volvo or asking about the sealed plastic bags full if white powder I follishly tried to peddle to children. But sometimes I get asked about my favourite music.
I have something to say about the bands of recent years: they suck. 85% of all bands formed around the year 200 and onwards are terrible. The sad thing is, that kids (5 to late teens) today are growing up with this, as I like to call, 'Pissmusic', and not even paying a shred of attention to bands such as:
- Queen
- ACDC
- Pink Floyd
- The Who
- Dire Straits
And dozens of other bands which I have failed to list. It breaks my heart to hear... rap... over tinny earphones loudly while on the bus, or, god forbid, bands like Linken Park or Green Day on the train through the same pathetic earpieces.
So, what bands do I like? Well, I don't really like many 'Bands', per se. Songs from certain groups, yes, but not usually into every bit of music on the album. In fact, i almost never buy an album, I just grab the song off Youtube with the miricle of Download Helper (An honest to god Firefox addon) so long as the quality is good.
What I do like is intrumental stuff. The singing, I find, is what kills some songs. Just the other day I brought the Fast and Furious 4 Score Soundtrack and the Transformers: ROTF Soundtrack from Amazon. I'm not putting in links because I fear some sort of retribution.
I also love the Painkiller soundtrack (Can be found on the game disk if you look hard enough). Mediastudio, the guys responsible for all the Fight music, did a great job. Don't worry about buying the 'Painkiller Soundtrack' or whatever they called it, with such titles ad 'The Painkiller', 'Lokhi (I think anyway)', 'Banshee' etc because there all on the disk anyway. And I'm sure if you ask nicely, Old Man Youtube will cough up some decent quality tracks for you.
I have something to say about the bands of recent years: they suck. 85% of all bands formed around the year 200 and onwards are terrible. The sad thing is, that kids (5 to late teens) today are growing up with this, as I like to call, 'Pissmusic', and not even paying a shred of attention to bands such as:
- Queen
- ACDC
- Pink Floyd
- The Who
- Dire Straits
And dozens of other bands which I have failed to list. It breaks my heart to hear... rap... over tinny earphones loudly while on the bus, or, god forbid, bands like Linken Park or Green Day on the train through the same pathetic earpieces.
So, what bands do I like? Well, I don't really like many 'Bands', per se. Songs from certain groups, yes, but not usually into every bit of music on the album. In fact, i almost never buy an album, I just grab the song off Youtube with the miricle of Download Helper (An honest to god Firefox addon) so long as the quality is good.
What I do like is intrumental stuff. The singing, I find, is what kills some songs. Just the other day I brought the Fast and Furious 4 Score Soundtrack and the Transformers: ROTF Soundtrack from Amazon. I'm not putting in links because I fear some sort of retribution.
I also love the Painkiller soundtrack (Can be found on the game disk if you look hard enough). Mediastudio, the guys responsible for all the Fight music, did a great job. Don't worry about buying the 'Painkiller Soundtrack' or whatever they called it, with such titles ad 'The Painkiller', 'Lokhi (I think anyway)', 'Banshee' etc because there all on the disk anyway. And I'm sure if you ask nicely, Old Man Youtube will cough up some decent quality tracks for you.
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
TIME VORTEEEEEEEEEX
It's the ninth of the ninth, '09. It's one of the 12 days a century that you can get all the numbers of the day/month/year the same. So, I have decided to take this day as kind of a day off, think of it as the 'The day all the numbers on the day/month/year date setting are the same' holiday.
On another note, Machinima! I've been writing a few scripts for the WOW Machinima slice of the pie, but you could easily branch off into other games, such as Bioshock, Crysis, Red Alert 3, etc. It's just easier (arguably) with WOW because you have the technology there, plus all the turotials for cameras and puppetering, and so on.
And the second I either understand how to modify my PHP based site OR get a new one, I'll have those stories up.
UPDATE
Sh!t, almost forgot. DDO Unlimited. Yes, somehow the DDO team are still clinging on to life, and in an attept to reel in past customers, they've made their new service or whatever free. All you need to do is reinstall DDO and log into your old account. Here's the forum post/FAQ thing.
On another note, Machinima! I've been writing a few scripts for the WOW Machinima slice of the pie, but you could easily branch off into other games, such as Bioshock, Crysis, Red Alert 3, etc. It's just easier (arguably) with WOW because you have the technology there, plus all the turotials for cameras and puppetering, and so on.
And the second I either understand how to modify my PHP based site OR get a new one, I'll have those stories up.
UPDATE
Sh!t, almost forgot. DDO Unlimited. Yes, somehow the DDO team are still clinging on to life, and in an attept to reel in past customers, they've made their new service or whatever free. All you need to do is reinstall DDO and log into your old account. Here's the forum post/FAQ thing.
Sunday, September 6, 2009
Power outage
At time of writing, (11:07 AM) the power just got cut out. I'm fine, thanks to my SUPER DUPER LAPTOP BATTERY, but everything else is screwed. And I can't post at the present time because the internet is out.
Actually this is not the first wierd occurance this week. First Splicers, then leaks, bloody Ghosts, and now a power outage. Ain't life in Rapture grand.
::ATTENTION::
All RAPTURE CITIZENS
All bathospheres are currently out of order. You will have to swim.
- Andrew Ryan
Actually this is not the first wierd occurance this week. First Splicers, then leaks, bloody Ghosts, and now a power outage. Ain't life in Rapture grand.
::ATTENTION::
All RAPTURE CITIZENS
All bathospheres are currently out of order. You will have to swim.
- Andrew Ryan
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Atheism destroyed? We shall see...
Some of you may want to take a gander at the little Warning note on the side of the page. Done? Good. Now you can't get mad at me because you were duely warned, although I am aware that it probably won't stop some of you.
I was cruising through the sea of vidoes on YouTube and came across a collection of pro-christian material the size of a small continent. Lets call this continent Biblesia.
I've just watched this video, entitled 'ATHEISM DESTROYED IN UNDER 4 MIN !!!'. You can tell by the shamless use of the Caps Lock button, the use of the word Min and the three exclamation marks at the end that this person is A, probably young and B, put the video together in a hurry. I almost thought "Not gonna bother with this", then decided I needed a jolly good laugh.
So, lets go over the little facade of intelligence and wisdom this person has put together with Windows Movie Maker in about five minutes.
First, lets take a few minutes to discuss the begining of the video.
The one thing I already don't like about this guy is he hasn't listed what he's trying to debate against. How the universe was formed? Is there a god? The intelligence of Aithiests? Or a sickingly grotesque combination of the three? It's still unclear even towards the end of the video, something I find quite annoying.
Onto the Theories!
Theory 1: Life is an Illusion.
I really like this theory. The idea that life is nothing more than a dream in the subconsious of... something has always appealed to me in a weird sort of way.
Whoa, whoa! Big red bold writing! Wait, go back a few seconds.
The whole 'I dreamed I was a butterfly, and I did not know etc' thing is interesting, but I'm finding it difficult trying to pinpoint what this has to do with anything.
Oh I see. So it was simply thrown in to prove your little point. I get it, I get the picture. And apparently he 'Analysed' it, and came to the conclusion that it is 'UNTESTABLE, IMPRACTICABLE, and IRRATIONAL'. So kind of like your belief in your so called goNO BAD SPECTRE. I will not resort to that level of lowness.
And anyway, who says it's Untestable? You could juust have someone enter a trance-like state and think about being a butterfly. And Irrational? Look whos talkiNO DAMNIT. Arg, onto the next Theory.
Theory 2: The Universe Always Existed As It Does Now
You know, it's not such a bad argument. One could simply say that the universe has indeed been around since the dawn of time, but then we start delving deep into our minds, wrapping our heads around such questions as 'Well, if it was around the dawn of time, then how did the dawn of time start?' Then we go into a tailspin trying to explain THAT so we won't think about it anymore.
Ho boy, another 'Analysis'. According to the 'Law of Entropy', A universe would have dissolved by now. And he- sorry, it makes the argument that it has A, not cooled down; B, Dissipated; and C, stopped moving, so it can't be eternal. Man, I would love to know how this guy gets his 'Facts'. I very, very highly doubt this guy is any sort of intellectual, let alone a physicist, so how he can make these observations I cannot fathom. And, this seems to be a re-occuring pattern, he decides that every theory is 'not scientific', and discards them like one would a candy bar wrapper.
Here's the Wikipedia link if you want to do some actual research into the Second Law of Thermodynamics, otherwise known as the Law of Entropy.
Theory 3: The Universe Suddenly Appeared Out of Nothing
I don't agree with this. As he states in his big, bold red letters that 'NOTHING CAN COME FROM NOTHING', which is totally true.
This cracks me up. 'Physicists race to solve the matter-mystery of the Big Bang', Oct 12, 2003. 'Teams of Scientists racing to solve the biggest mystery of our physical world: WHY THE UNIVERSE CONTAINS MATTER.' And, apparently, this is a quote from a physicist: 'We are on the verge of a major breakthrough in our understanding of the very ORIGIN OF MATTER on the universe.'
Then he has the cheek to say '[Update: we're still waiting!]'. I mean for christs sake, like it takes us, the human race, seven years to understand such a outrageously huge and probably unanswerable question. But hey, it must be pretty easy for you christians to answer these kind of questions 'cause you just say god diARG DAMNIT a nearly lost it again.
Oh, here we go - Theory 4: God Created The Universe
He resorts to using quotes from the bible, which is like me using quotes from a Dr Suese book. No, no, no, the cannons are coming out. Time to end this charade. So, let me just quickly run you over the Bible; They say god wrote it, but he didn't. There is no way a non-coporeal eternal all powerful being wrote on a physical piece of paper, or in this case, a book. I'm pretty sure it didn't even start out as a book, but anyway. Then some blank space, then I imagine a bunch of people got together and wrote their versions of the bible into the one book (Oh yes, didn't you know? The whole XXXXXX ?:? thing is somebody's own recolection or thinking or whatever of the bible), and it was written by people in a very, very different age then the one we live in today, and trying to cram it into our lives is like cramming a extremely obese sewerage worker down a manhole.
I love the, 'This is the only thoery that doesn't violate the laws of physics' piece. Let me qualify for you;
1. No, it doesn't violate any laws of physics, apart from the whole "god decided it was time a universe happened and did it", which, come to think of it, is really similar to the 'The Universe Was Created From Nothing' theory.
2. It sure doesn't violate the laws of physics, at least not in your head, but it does violate the laws of... oh, I don't know, rationality? Logic? Take your pick.
'The only theory science cannot disprove'? Aww, for the love of god. You can't disprove something that
A, doesn't have any grounding in reality (Take a long, hard think about the whole 'religion' idea and it's ideas. You'll see) and
B, Can't be proven anyway. So we've established that that statment is flawed at best.
'By deduction, this is the only valid theory'. Hang on, I need to scream.
...
...
...
...
Done. Let me explain in three simple ways why that statment is total horses***.
1. Just because you say something doesn't make it so (a very important lesson to learn),
2. All of those theories are valid, thats why they're called theories, because it's a speculation so anything could happen, etc, and
3. I'm just looking at the "By deduction" part. Who's deduction, the video makers? Certainly not mine or yours, so we must logicly agree that it's hi-sorry, IT'S, which brings us to the end of the video, with even more pieces from the bible, something about fools and 'hath hearth'. I closed the video after that. I just didn't want anything more to do with it. And I'm very dubious of the uploader, a mr. Random331.
So, that's the rant for this week, kids! I'll be back next week! Stay tune for my small review of Bioshock, and to find out where to read the full review.
I was cruising through the sea of vidoes on YouTube and came across a collection of pro-christian material the size of a small continent. Lets call this continent Biblesia.
I've just watched this video, entitled 'ATHEISM DESTROYED IN UNDER 4 MIN !!!'. You can tell by the shamless use of the Caps Lock button, the use of the word Min and the three exclamation marks at the end that this person is A, probably young and B, put the video together in a hurry. I almost thought "Not gonna bother with this", then decided I needed a jolly good laugh.
So, lets go over the little facade of intelligence and wisdom this person has put together with Windows Movie Maker in about five minutes.
First, lets take a few minutes to discuss the begining of the video.
The one thing I already don't like about this guy is he hasn't listed what he's trying to debate against. How the universe was formed? Is there a god? The intelligence of Aithiests? Or a sickingly grotesque combination of the three? It's still unclear even towards the end of the video, something I find quite annoying.
Onto the Theories!
Theory 1: Life is an Illusion.
I really like this theory. The idea that life is nothing more than a dream in the subconsious of... something has always appealed to me in a weird sort of way.
Whoa, whoa! Big red bold writing! Wait, go back a few seconds.
The whole 'I dreamed I was a butterfly, and I did not know etc' thing is interesting, but I'm finding it difficult trying to pinpoint what this has to do with anything.
Oh I see. So it was simply thrown in to prove your little point. I get it, I get the picture. And apparently he 'Analysed' it, and came to the conclusion that it is 'UNTESTABLE, IMPRACTICABLE, and IRRATIONAL'. So kind of like your belief in your so called goNO BAD SPECTRE. I will not resort to that level of lowness.
And anyway, who says it's Untestable? You could juust have someone enter a trance-like state and think about being a butterfly. And Irrational? Look whos talkiNO DAMNIT. Arg, onto the next Theory.
Theory 2: The Universe Always Existed As It Does Now
You know, it's not such a bad argument. One could simply say that the universe has indeed been around since the dawn of time, but then we start delving deep into our minds, wrapping our heads around such questions as 'Well, if it was around the dawn of time, then how did the dawn of time start?' Then we go into a tailspin trying to explain THAT so we won't think about it anymore.
Ho boy, another 'Analysis'. According to the 'Law of Entropy', A universe would have dissolved by now. And he- sorry, it makes the argument that it has A, not cooled down; B, Dissipated; and C, stopped moving, so it can't be eternal. Man, I would love to know how this guy gets his 'Facts'. I very, very highly doubt this guy is any sort of intellectual, let alone a physicist, so how he can make these observations I cannot fathom. And, this seems to be a re-occuring pattern, he decides that every theory is 'not scientific', and discards them like one would a candy bar wrapper.
Here's the Wikipedia link if you want to do some actual research into the Second Law of Thermodynamics, otherwise known as the Law of Entropy.
Theory 3: The Universe Suddenly Appeared Out of Nothing
I don't agree with this. As he states in his big, bold red letters that 'NOTHING CAN COME FROM NOTHING', which is totally true.
This cracks me up. 'Physicists race to solve the matter-mystery of the Big Bang', Oct 12, 2003. 'Teams of Scientists racing to solve the biggest mystery of our physical world: WHY THE UNIVERSE CONTAINS MATTER.' And, apparently, this is a quote from a physicist: 'We are on the verge of a major breakthrough in our understanding of the very ORIGIN OF MATTER on the universe.'
Then he has the cheek to say '[Update: we're still waiting!]'. I mean for christs sake, like it takes us, the human race, seven years to understand such a outrageously huge and probably unanswerable question. But hey, it must be pretty easy for you christians to answer these kind of questions 'cause you just say god diARG DAMNIT a nearly lost it again.
Oh, here we go - Theory 4: God Created The Universe
He resorts to using quotes from the bible, which is like me using quotes from a Dr Suese book. No, no, no, the cannons are coming out. Time to end this charade. So, let me just quickly run you over the Bible; They say god wrote it, but he didn't. There is no way a non-coporeal eternal all powerful being wrote on a physical piece of paper, or in this case, a book. I'm pretty sure it didn't even start out as a book, but anyway. Then some blank space, then I imagine a bunch of people got together and wrote their versions of the bible into the one book (Oh yes, didn't you know? The whole XXXXXX ?:? thing is somebody's own recolection or thinking or whatever of the bible), and it was written by people in a very, very different age then the one we live in today, and trying to cram it into our lives is like cramming a extremely obese sewerage worker down a manhole.
I love the, 'This is the only thoery that doesn't violate the laws of physics' piece. Let me qualify for you;
1. No, it doesn't violate any laws of physics, apart from the whole "god decided it was time a universe happened and did it", which, come to think of it, is really similar to the 'The Universe Was Created From Nothing' theory.
2. It sure doesn't violate the laws of physics, at least not in your head, but it does violate the laws of... oh, I don't know, rationality? Logic? Take your pick.
'The only theory science cannot disprove'? Aww, for the love of god. You can't disprove something that
A, doesn't have any grounding in reality (Take a long, hard think about the whole 'religion' idea and it's ideas. You'll see) and
B, Can't be proven anyway. So we've established that that statment is flawed at best.
'By deduction, this is the only valid theory'. Hang on, I need to scream.
...
...
...
...
Done. Let me explain in three simple ways why that statment is total horses***.
1. Just because you say something doesn't make it so (a very important lesson to learn),
2. All of those theories are valid, thats why they're called theories, because it's a speculation so anything could happen, etc, and
3. I'm just looking at the "By deduction" part. Who's deduction, the video makers? Certainly not mine or yours, so we must logicly agree that it's hi-sorry, IT'S, which brings us to the end of the video, with even more pieces from the bible, something about fools and 'hath hearth'. I closed the video after that. I just didn't want anything more to do with it. And I'm very dubious of the uploader, a mr. Random331.
So, that's the rant for this week, kids! I'll be back next week! Stay tune for my small review of Bioshock, and to find out where to read the full review.
Survival Mode!
Yes, I've just been playing around with the Beta for Minecraft: Survival Mode. And i have to say, it's pretty good. It's a slightly different experiance to Minecraft, but not hugely. Zombies and Skeletons have made their apperance, and they hurt you quite a bit. Falling damages you, so I wouldn't recommend doing it. You can eat mushrooms (and probably a few other things) to replenish health, but you may experiance side effects. (Large pink elephants, anyone?)
.efil sih htiw od ot retteb gnihton sah ohw dratsab diputs a am I
That was for my good buddy, you know who you are.
I really don't have much to put here. I was expecting to have Supreme Commander by now, but I guess not. Maybe sometime friday, WINK WINK TONY. Either that or I get it for a shockingly low price of just $19.95 at [STORE NAME CENSORED]. Unfortunatly it's one of those cheap-ass game boxes, similar to the What's Hot! game boxes you see in the price bin or on the bottom shelf where most of them belong.
UPDATE
Ok, this Evony ad crap is really starting to get to me. Everywhere I look there seems to be another section of website featuring soft core pornography with the intention of getting people to play a game that really isn't that good. I'm sorry, but the advertisments are far too agressive and far too.. whats the word, pandering for a game that's essentially a really basic RTS with the corners, and indeed most of the content, cut off. It seems unnecessary.
.efil sih htiw od ot retteb gnihton sah ohw dratsab diputs a am I
That was for my good buddy, you know who you are.
I really don't have much to put here. I was expecting to have Supreme Commander by now, but I guess not. Maybe sometime friday, WINK WINK TONY. Either that or I get it for a shockingly low price of just $19.95 at [STORE NAME CENSORED]. Unfortunatly it's one of those cheap-ass game boxes, similar to the What's Hot! game boxes you see in the price bin or on the bottom shelf where most of them belong.
UPDATE
Ok, this Evony ad crap is really starting to get to me. Everywhere I look there seems to be another section of website featuring soft core pornography with the intention of getting people to play a game that really isn't that good. I'm sorry, but the advertisments are far too agressive and far too.. whats the word, pandering for a game that's essentially a really basic RTS with the corners, and indeed most of the content, cut off. It seems unnecessary.
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