Mindless Juices

5/22/05 I've got a few geeky things to talk about: So, I just finished watching Episode III. I LOVED catching as many geeky details that I could. Sure, everyone notices how "this" ship is the predecessor to the Tie Fighters or "that" one is the predeccessor to the X-wing. But, do they notice the capital ships of The Republic resemeble Star Destroyers? Do they notice Senator Palpatine working on the Death Star's schematics? How about the fact that the droids are entrusted with Captain Antilles? If you don't know why Captain Antilles is important, you're not a Star Wars geek. If you want to know, post a comment. George Lucas is not a great writer. There were some horrible lines, but the characters and their backgrounds are huge, especially when you consider where they all end up eventually. Chewbacca was second in command... let's say, a General maybe? Who knew R2 was such a battle veteran? Consider the fact that he knows it all. Well, he knew a lot... a lot more than he ever let on. The Jedi-on-Jedi battles were a little tough. Especially the one with the droid Captain. Lucas had a beutiful thing with all the bad guys having red light sabers. Fight scenes get a little hard to follow when both (or more) blades are blue or green. ------------------------------------------------------------------- The other night Sabrina and I caught the end of American Idol. It was the episode where they show some of the really bad people who tried out. They were showing clips from Pop Idol, the British original. They were showing geeks and all was well and good until the sort of picked one out. He was the "ultimate nerd." Well, he fit the bill. Glasses, poor attire, and he couldn't sing. He wasn't horrible, but "Great Balls of Fire" really needs a piano backup. He had a Ph.D. in something mathematical. The "judges" asked him questions like, "Why is a smart guy like you trying out to be an idol when you could do great things?" The answer is, it's his dream. Well, Simon doesn't do dreams unless it can make him more money. Now, know this: I am not a Simon hater. I could care less about the man. But, he broke this geek. It was like the episode of The Simpsons when Lisa breaks Ralph's heart on TV and Bart records it and plays it back for her. You could see the moment his heart broke. It was so sad. So, so very sad. It hurt me. It hurt my wife. You just hate to see that sort of thing. And we weren't anticipating it. It's not like when you see a movie and you know something bad is going to happen. This was sudden. One second, the poor geek was handling things and the next, his dreams were snuffed, his spirit was robbed and his heart was demolished. And we hated watching it. ------------------------------------------------------------------- 5/22/05 I haven't played Everquest 2 for two weeks. There are several reasons, but it mostly that I've been busy with other things. Babysitting, my beautiful wife needs the computer, or I just wasn't in the mood. Yes, there are times that I'm not in the mood to play video games. So, after 14 days, I hopped back on and had some fun. I just wanted it stated for the record that, I hadn't played for two weeks. If anyone wants to know about this wonderful game, please let me know. I get free trial offers from Sony to give to friends about every 3-6 months.

So, Nick has done a nice job providing all the links you need to catch up on the latest and greatest on the horizon for gamers. Part of the geeks inheriting the Earth means we're playing video games and we don't plan on stopping. And, yes, we're gonna teach our children how to play. I just wish they'd stop thinking that we're going to buy a video game just because they made a movie or a comic book about it. It needs to actually be good. Segway into my post... So, with regards to the Revolution, the PS3 and the 360, I feel its my duty to remind you that the key to any console is good game support. There are reasons why Nintendo has lasted so long, why Xbox broke into a market where many others have failed, why Sony didn't follow the path of Sega. The reasons are games. We'll start with Nintendo. Better yet, I'll just say Franchis-endo. Metroid, Mario (Bros., Kart, Party, Tennis, Golf, etc.), even more Yoshi spin-offs, Zelda, Kirby, Pikmin, Monkeyball, Donkey Kong, Castelvania and even Pokémon... The list goes on. These guys are the kings of never letting a great thing die. Sure, they've made mistakes, but they've recovered and continued to slap glorious fresh paint and sparklies on great things that we fell in love with... and have done so over and over again. Shoot, Sabrina's favorite game is still Tetris. The Revolution's backwards compatibility means the initial game library for it is massive. This is important... Now, just about everybody had an 8-bit Nintendo. Not everyone had a Super NES or N64 or a Gamecube. If the Revolution can deliver, it's a chance to play those games you only dreamed about playing for hours on end when you were a kid. Remember hating your friend for owning one when you didn't? Remember how much you loved to go over to his house to play video games? Doubt the replay value? Check out MAME or any other emulator. These wouldn't exist if people didn't still want to play these old games. It's safe to say that the majority of us missed out on a Nintendo console or two and there may have been a game or two that we would have liked to play. What's it worth to play the games of "old"... This brings us to Sony. How did they make it in an increasingly competetive market, especially with their PS2? Well, the PS2 was destined to make it for the same reason the Revolution is banking on: Instant game library upon delivery of console. You pull your PS1 out of its hole in your entertainment center and you slide in the PS2. You just add to your library of games and now you can watch DVD's, too. Brilliant! Sony also managed to contract several major publishers exclusively back in the day. They released games left and right... Some straight to the bargain bin. The point is, whatever it is you wanted to play, it was probably available on PS2. So, that brings us to the new kid on the block. The Xbox was a crazy venture. The Xbox was going after Sony's PS2 and I just told you how it was destined to make it. Microsoft had virtually no game library, no publishers' contracts, nothing to make this thing work out any better than the Turbografx 16 or the Dreamcast (which actually had more going for it). The key to Microsoft's success was DirectX. It's where the Xbox got its name. Microsoft developed DirectX to help integrate the gaming world into the PC world. Gilly Bates saw the growing gaming market and knew Windows wouldn't survive if it didn't support it. DirectX, now up to version 9, allowed game developers to easily integrate with the operating system to access the hardware. As it developed, it allowed developers to push the envelope of PC gaming further. Then, a couple of geniuses (not Bill, by the way), realized the potential for DirectX to make it easy to develop console games and that Microsoft was all ready to enter the console market. Billy was smart enough to let them try. Then, Microsoft swooned the guys at Bungie to make Halo (rumor is they were making it for Apple to launch on the Macs). This game single-handedly put Xboxes in thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of homes. Microsoft Game Studio released dozens of PC titles on the Xbox. Now, they're a major player. And, DirectX is simpler than ever and more powerful than ever... The 360 will be something with which to contend. So, the moral of the story? The hardware is nice to know and fun to tease ourselves with, but it doesn't matter much. Many systems with superior hardware have come out over the years and flopped, failed and faded. Game developers have to want to make games for your system, publishers have to be wooed and contracts have to fall into place, and the guys who can put together the biggest library of good games will ultimately win. I don't think there can be any losers from these three. So, just make sure that your friends get the other systems... The ones that you don't buy so you can still play those games. Post Script: I had to "teach" my spell check *SO* many words... Pikmin, Sega, Xbox, DirectX, etc.

So, we went to the zoo today. I suppose we were all "family-like." And I was wondering if people were wondering if the girls were Sabrina's and my girls. I thought, "Surely, we look too young to have these girls." (stop calling me Shirley). But, then, I thought, "Rachel looks too young to have these girls." So, then I thought, "Well, they don't look like our girls." And that's what I figured. People who saw us were completely baffled because the girls don't look like us. I imagine people spending half their day at the zoo trying to figure out why a young couple would take someone else's children to the zoo without their parents. "Huh, what? OH, a polar bear? No, I was just thinking about that brown man. Those girls couldn't have been his. Yeah, yeah, no, a kangaroo, I get it... Why would he do that? Yes, I see the baboon. And that woman with him couldn't have been his wife. She's much too pretty to be with him." Imagining is fun. Anyway, it was fun (but tyering) toting the girls around... Carrying them when they were too tyerd, trying to distract them whenever they started to whine, trying to distract them while Sabrina stood on line for an hour for some food. I think maybe I've watched too much TV, but I expected to see faces light up and that pure child-like enjoyment when a polar bear came up to the glass not two feet away from us. yeah, not so much. The girls were more interested in the birds. I have to admit, this zoo had some of the most beautiful flamingos I have ever seen. I've seen a few flamingos in my day. They must be fed well. The rain forest areas were pretty cool. The birds in there had some amazing plumage. Hopefully all the pictures we took will come out well. I expect Sabrina to share the best of them with you soon. However, I have to warn you that it feels a little dangerous in there. Not five minutes of being in the aviary, a bird flew right in front of me, so close that I felt the breeze off its wings. A Spanish speaking couple behind me sort of shouted when they saw it and laughed a little when I stopped dead in my tracks in a little shock. All of the girls were about 10 feet in front of me and didn't see a thing. Anyway, the overall zoo experience was a very good one. I have to say that it's the closest I've ever been to most of those animals. Kangaroos, bears, and various birds... They were all so much closer than I ever remember any trips to any zoos from when I was a kid. Between this trip and past trips to Sea World, I feel like I've been up close to a fair number and a good variety of wild animals. I am going to have to brush up on my animal trivia before I have kids. It would be nice to feel like super smart dad at the zoo. So, maybe when all the series have ended, I'll start watching the National Geographic channel or Discovery channels.

# posted by Steve (Oz) : 5/14/2005 09:40:00 PM  0 comments

There's a great Everybody Loves Raymond where another one of Robert's idiosyncrasies is revealed. It turns out that there's a reason why they are called Good & Plenty. Apparently, the pink ones are the "good's" because they taste better and the white ones are the "plenty's" because there's always more of them. Additionally, there are the "cuties" which are the irregular ones. Since Everyone Loves Themes, I have some IMDB quotes with a cleanliness theme: Marie Barone: I don't lose things, Frank. I'm organized. Frank Barone: Not organized, insane! She's got a shoebox labeled pieces of string too small to use. Ray Barone: All right Ally, you have to do what Mommy says. Ally Barone: Why? Ray Barone: 'Cause I do. Debra Barone: A clean house is not the most important thing in the world. Marie Barone: You know who says that? A messy person. [Ray is trying to seem manly to a friend] Ray Barone: [to Debra] Let's try and get it spot free. This isn't like at home where I let that stuff slide. And, the best episode EVER!: Ray Barone: You know, we make a pretty good team together, your availability and my attractiveness. Robert Barone: Yeah, it's like Robert-Raymond. Ray Barone: No, it's Raybert.

Yes, it's almost 4 in the morning and I've been gaming the entire time. I know, you think it's wrong, but, man, is it fun. Thanks to Angela & J.J., I got Rogue Squadron III:Rebel Strike... well, I rented it because it's hard to find because it's two years old. Maybe after my rental is due, they'll let me borrow it... (nudge, nudge, wink, wink) For being two years old, it's still a great game. Oh, how I missed my X-wing! (great pic link, can you see it?) A full 2-player co-op mode allows you to play through an entirely different campaign. I love co-op... why kill your friend when you COULD high-five him after a successful mission? No one stayed up with me, so I was playing the single player campaign. Every failed mission, you think, "I can do this" and try again. Every successful mission you think, "Just one more, it will only take a couple of minutes." And it's true, the missions only take about 4-10 minutes. So, little by little, time flies by... and then, I think, well, let me see if there are any new comments on my blog before bed. Then, I think, everyone should know I'm crazy... I should let them know. "Now, you know. And knowing is half the battle... "

Well, far be it for me to spend any time in that exquisite dog house. Still, part of the purpose of this blog is for me to comment on Sabrina's blog. On the topic of Michael Bublé (that's ALT+0233 for the accent), I have opinions and I believe I can express them without being mean. First, I honestly thought it was pronounced bubble when I first saw it. I didn't see the accent. Second, I wasn't all that impressed with his first album. While I think the guy can hold a note and he's quite smooth, I felt the first album was too smooth. Yes, I do thinks that that's possible. You see, I believe that in order to make it in the music world, you need two things: 1.) a little grit, and 2.) a good "woo." Nick has some experience (quite a bit more than me) in the music world and I hope he weighs in. So, for the little grit... well, it's something that puts deep feeling into a song or two or maybe even just for a moment of a song. It's a little throaty sound during a powerful moment when the beat and/or band drops. It's a little more breath before or after a held note. It's hitting a pretty high or pretty low note. It's something that makes your singing of a song special. While a perfectly smooth song may be special to some, it makes me think of Data in Star Trek. Data played and sang everything PERFECTLY, but it was missing something (prior to an emotion chip). Everyone thought so, but especially Riker and especially with regards to jazz. I think Riker might say the same for Mr. Bublé. Obviously, Mr. Bublé is not without emotion, but it's just not strong enough for me. I will say, his second album was much closer to getting my taste buds tingling, but it was more of a "close, but no cigar." He is an excellent singer, but I need a little flaw and/or imperfection that helps me think, "If they made it, maybe even *I* could make it." My "woo" theory is wavering lately. I prefer not to discuss it. Now, that wasn't mean... was it?

So, I've recently been in fairly constant communication with my good friend Brian. He and I like to talk about philosophical things. Last night, we entered into one of these. Sometime during it, I inquired why we like to talk about these universals. He said it's easier to talk about them than to act on them. I like to think that by talking about them and working them out, we're more likely to work them into our daily lives. "Six of one...," I guess. I commented that we should record our conversations because 1000 years from now, people should study what our discussions. Blogging about it will probably be a s close as we get. Anyway, we were talking about the "ego" in the context of being saved. Think about when you've heard people say, "you've got to die to your self..." Well, that self, we called ego because that's really what it is. It's indentity. Brian said that humans can actually have an adrenal response when their identity is endangered. Have you ever gotten REALLY upset about someone calling you stupid or telling you you can't do something or defining you in some way you don't want to be defined? That's it... your identity, your ego. Well, the idea of dying to self is really talking about endangering your ego. Er, at least, that's how our ego sees it. But the truth is, we need our ego. We need it to make sure we meet our needs and to know where our strengths and weaknesses are. It's important. It just shouldn't be the most important. Sometimes, the ego thinks it's doing things for your benefit, but it's somewhat fallible. Sometimes, it's wrong. It makes me think of My Big Fat Greek Wedding, when the mom says, "the man may be the head of the household, but the woman is the neck." The ego wants to be the head and the neck. But, it doesn't do so well as the neck. So, the whole dying to self is actually more like subjugating the ego to the Holy Spirit. Trust me, the ego will fight because it doesn't really understand why it shouldn't be the master. If the ego is the head, the Holy Spirit needs to be the neck. :) I know, that doesn't sound right, but just like in MBFGW, what is being said is the neck is the one that's really in charge. But neither the neck nor the head is much good without the other. And neither could do the function of the other. This is the closest I'm ever going to get to being published again...

Here's the thing, these days, it's cool to know about computers, programming, video games, music, comic books, D&D, etc. There was a day (junior high?) when all of these were only coveted by the "geeks" and "dorks." Well, here I am to say that those of us who said, "And the geeks shall inherit the Earth" weren't too far off. FYI, dorks are still uncool. I am truly amazed how the things I loved as a kid, "the mainstream" is just NOW finding out how cool they are. Mainstream realized that I am lovable. And when I tried to get the pretty girl, people rooted for me. Now that I got her, they're happy (though confused) as to HOW I got the pretty girl and they all want to know if I can keep her. So, they keep watching. It's really the only reason I think I have friends these days. So, it's cool to be a geek. And, you might think that IT departments are, by definition, the coolest place to be. Yet, they're not... Nick? My pretty wife forgot Peter Parker, the geek to which we all aspire. Deep down, every geek metaphorically wishes he got bit by a spider and turned into a stud overnight. Look, everyone wanted Peter, not Spiderman, to get with M.J. Peter embodies the lovable geek and Stan Lee wrote him to do so... he pioneered the way for Seth, Marshall, J.D. and George. I just want to say take a look around... Sin City, Spiderman & his fellow comic book heros, G4TV, Apple, Bill Gates (to some extent), Ben Affleck (major geek), Everquest (D&D for the masses) ...face it, it's the geeks that keep this world going 'round... we, at least, make it a cooler place than it was.

Welcome to my blog! So, there are several reasons I have decided to create this blog. 1.) I have recently been accused of leaving early from work. For this reason, I am now spending extra time in the office (sometimes at the beginning of the day, sometimes at the end). Now, this time is in addition to the over 40 hours I give to my job every week. The phone calls in the evenings and weekends, the points management and routing every night, the drives back into Raleigh when one of my techs gets into an accident... they all add up to additional hours. Now, because of rumors, I am spending even more time "on the job." Well, I don't need this extra office time, so some of it will have to go to mindless fun, hence the name. 2.) Also, my wife's blog has become quite popular. For this reason, I created a brother blog to hers. "Mindless" is the first antonym listed on Dictionary.com. Yet, another reason for the name. Now, I don't have to merely comment on her blog and hope people read it. I hope people read hers and then read mine. Yes, I am trying to steal some of her thunder... if I can just get a little bit, it will be enough. :) It's sad really...