Losing the lost

How are you supposed to feel when you lose someone that you used to be close to, but the connection was frayed and very close to severed over the years?

I keep thinking about good times, fun and laughs had in various situations, and the bad times, which I don't really want to list here.

No doubt I've said some bad things in recent years, some played off in humor and others straight-off honesty.

I don't feel bad about saying things because I haven't lied, and I'm sure she said some things about me too.

But even with more than a thousand miles and years of separation, it still hurt that she is now gone. It actually stung a lot more than I thought it would.

It's weird because I haven't really felt much of anything, emotion-wise, in quite awhile. Good or bad.

Questionable handing out of "I love you" to some that I think I did, maybe, and to some I know I do. But I don't always feel it.

Times I know I should be angry and I fake it, because it's easy to act that one up, but inside there is mostly no change in the temperature.

Pain has been here and there, depending on what is happening. Usually a sneak attack around multiple crappy events.

Once or twice within the past couple years it has gotten to me, but just briefly.

Like now. I stopped this morning and cried for about 3 seconds. That was it, it was done and I haven't had a ounce of it come back.

But my brain keeps firing all these memories and thoughts at me. Reflecting on someone I've known my entire life, that is now gone.

I try to indulge a bit of the reminiscing, but I've been working all day. Which I'm kind of happy about, because the day is almost over, after I eat and take a shower there won't be much time to sit and think.

But I know tomorrow won't be a new day, some of today will still be waiting at the foot of my bed for me to wake up. It might even creep in before that.

I know a few other people who have cut someone out of their life. But I don't know any who have and then had that person die. So I've got no real example on how to carry this thing.

If I come up with anything profound, I'll be sure to write it down.

It's easier, because I'm not there. Around everyone that does care, but I still have a lot of sympathetic emotion. It's awful talking on the phone about death.

Once I had to inform my grandfather that his daughter had been killed. It was awful to do over the phone, I felt like a jerk.

For this I just don't know how to be. I can't really help anyone, other than by talking, and I suck at that. I just feel this awkwardness sitting in my stomach.

And a bit of guilt, I guess, but quickly the truth bounces back and they roll around and fight in my head.

Maybe I shouldn't have let things drift apart so far. But, communication is a two way street, so maybe we both dropped the ball.

I guess if I thought someone really didn't want to talk to me I wouldn't try to contact them. So who knows. It's too late to find this shit out now. So why am I thinking about it?

Because that is apparently what my mind wants to do.

There isn't anything productive I can do though. So, all I do is think and wonder.

I can't even write anything clever. So I'm stopping.

WTF: A Favorite Shot to date and an outtake.

Some people pull crap faces when you take their picture. It just happens, I do it a lot because I don't like having my picture taken.

It's more frustrating when they know you are taking their picture and you even countdown for them, but whatever.

This wasn't a situation like that.

I was shooting a "living" nativity at a local church and saw one of the kids that was playing a shepherd keep turning around to look in the crowd. It took a bit to get the shot, but I think it's one of my favorites so far. The light is neat, he is very dynamic in the frame.

It was dark outside, but he was right in front of a light, so it looked nice.



I got a couple good ones, but he also pulled a weird face when he saw me taking pictures. Thought it was funny enough to share.


Wah?

That's it for now.

WTF: Workin' the Facts: Seeing Red

Had an assignment last night on the Planet Arium. Strange beings everywhere talking about outer space and lights.

Okay, that wasn't funny, but I tried dammit.



Got kind of a fun shot here.

The director lady kept turning up the "house lights" so that late people could walk in, but they were red lights so that it didn't ruin your night vision.

Overall most of the stuff was too dark for the magical D3 to capture before the show transitioned, but it was kind of fun.

I got to see the show for free.

This is going to be the story for the upcoming Entertainment Connection. I wanted this shot as the cover, but the guy laying it out wasn't sure it was going to work. But I just saw the page and he used it, and it looks bitchin!

Red doesn't always reproduce very well on CMYK press, but hopefully it will look decent.

I've always liked astronomy, I can't remember a lot from the class I took, but overall it's interesting.

Purty Pikturs

Since I moved to Texas I have had an idea for an art project that I think will be pretty cool.

I've been working on images for it, but I haven't exactly figured out how I'm going to do it yet.

Basically what I'm saying is, I've been taking some artsy, cool photos but don't have anything to do with them yet.

Hurray for a blog then, right?

Here I can put up fancy photos and pretend like I was just shooting them for the sake of doing it. Which I kind of have been.



Been having fun with shallow depth of field, contrast and color stuff.

This is all stuff I shot today while waiting for wrestling practice to start.



I have some more stuff. I've compiled over my time here, and some old stuff I've been going through. The more I go through my photos I think to myself. "Shit, I'm pretty good at this sometimes."





It isn't actually part of my project, but the more I think about it, having a show of my work would be fun as hell. Not the printing and framing, if that's how I did it, but seeing a bunch of my work displayed somewhere people might appreciate it seems like it would feel really cool.

Showing a mix of journalistic and artistic work would be a neat feat to beat while I take a seat and eat.

Okay, that's it.

WTF: Workin' the Facts: Forgetful Fire

I had one of those times where you seem to forget everything. That bugs the living hell out of me, because I always try to be super prepared, but I exposed a few flaws in my system last night.

After I left work I got a weird call asking about the scene I was headed to, which was news to me because I was in my kitchen about to eat some ice cream. Straight from the tub, if you must know!

Apparently someone, who sounded just like me, called in a tip about something happening in Freeport, a town between Clute and the Gulf. So, right from the start there was lots of confusion.

I'm still learning town names, let alone the layouts and side streets. So hunting "a bunch of cop cars" in a fairly decent sized town I haven't traveled a lot had me a little off set before I even left the apartment.

Driving to the point I was starting to get nervous about missing it, I managed to find the scene, a house fire, by rolling my window down.

Feeling like super-sniffer equipped, awesome detective photographer man I grabbed my gear bag and pulled out my camera, instantly feeling my stomach sink because of a noticeable difference in weight.

I left my battery on the charger in my apartment. Sure, I have an extra battery in my bag, but not with the attachment to actually put it in the camera. Capital F!

I also didn't have my memory cards that I usually carry, luckily I have like 60 of the damned things, so I knew there was one in my car somewhere.

But I had my work backup, the pitiful D2H in my hatch. But at a night fire I'd have a better chance drawing the scene with a pin and a bloody finger tip on a soggy piece of cardboard.

I also had my D300, which is not as good as the D3 in the darkness, but decent when they are in tip-top shape...which mine is not. It also had little remaining battery power.

UGH!



A few of the shots have some really wonky colors going on. On a few of them I think it actually made a cool effect.

I also dropped my pen between my car and the scene.

But after circling the house, with the many, many looky-loos, trying to get some good scene shots I moved in for the kill. And by "kill" I mean grainy, low light somewhat decent photos.

And got my socks wet, which makes me cranky.

But I got a mention in paper's facebook posting about it, which was cool.

Facebook: The Facts Fire is on the corner of Eighth Street and Yaupon in Freeport. House is totally gutted, collapsed in parts and still burning in others, photographer Ryan Evon reports. Online records from the county appraisal district indicate it's a rental property.

But, it wasn't a total disaster...for me, picture-wise. The fire was terrible.

It's kind of weird, journalists talk about fires or crashes as good. "Yeah, that was a really good fire." From a coverage stand-point, we don't want people to be homeless, but we do like to have stuff to do. It may seem a little sick, but...well, it can be, but not on purpose.

WTF: Workin' the Facts: Month 1 : Mass Update

This is gonna be a long one, so settle in. I don't have the internet at home...still, so I'm doing this all in one shot.

I've been working, trying to do my best, I'm currently filled with snot and miserable because of a cold/flu hybrid that seems to have been engineered to kill an ordinary human. But I'm hanging on.

Workin'

I'm still trying to figure out why somethings run and others don't. This is nothing new at newspapers, but it still always baffles me.

This shot of a kid at a circus with a light saber was fun, the one I turned in actually had him and his aunt next to him laughing, so the moment was there, the light was pretty, neat colors. But it ran inside... black and white. Seriously? COME ON! I got frickin' light sabers over here!

I don't know. Most of the time they get it right and try to do cool packages with stylized headlines and color schemes that match the photos. Everything plays well together. The biggest complaint I have is that the layout for 1A is usually a column on each side of the main story.

Which only leaves, at most, 3 columns for the main photo. With the gutters that's like maybe 5 inches. It seems so pitiful. That's what she said.

One thing I like about The Facts is that they don't fall into the trap a lot of papers have been. With slowing numbers in readership and ads papers seem to panic and try to grab at every community that is within reach, often over extending themselves.

I'm sure some would take a offense to this, but tell me it isn't the truth; at the Sun we covered three counties, but none of them well. One reporter per county is ridiculous and when some don't do their jobs it makes it worse.

Yeah, the one county here is just as big as the three counties there...but that's what I'm saying. They don't cover it all because it would be over reaching. I like that.

The Facts actually cut some local high schools from their coverage. That way you focus and really work the beats you have, hopefully getting back some of the local people you lost, not doing some scattershot attempt in an area that's already covered by someone else.

Football is winding down, and as local teams got knocked out we did extend, but only back to a team they used to cover. But then they lost too. But, Pearland is still in it. So the sports guys (and myself as well) are hoping we can find an excuse to go to Dallas for the state championship. Fingers crossed.

Now some fun football art.

D-FENCE!

I like the little kid's face. :D

The Agony of Defeat

This is the top dog player for Columbia High getting a hug from a teacher that is rabid about the football program. Their best season in decades came to a quick and brutal end in the semifinals.

Sometimes you get crap about shooting people crying. "Don't you have a soul?" Well, I might...but that doesn't matter. These moments are the pinnacle of journalism. Images of raw emotion are as close as you can get to conveying the absolute truth. And if you can do it without getting threatened by a 300 pound gorilla then it's even better. Right, Proctor?

We shoot a lot of football, even practices, because people are that into their teams. But it is making me continually try to be more creative and make interesting shots. Sometimes it works.

Black Friday
I had a funny thought shooting the insanity that is Black Friday. As people were lined up beside the Best Buy trying to shield themselves from what can only be called a savagely brutal wind, I thought to myself; "This probably isn't what they meant when they wrote 'huddled masses' on the Statue of Liberty." This is what our country has become though.

But hey, I got a hell of a deal on a TV. By the time I actually pay it off on my credit card it'll be closer to sticker price, but mine was dying and TV/movies/video games are really the only form of entertainment I have. I could read...but I like to save that option for when the power goes out.

Never liked to do a lot of posed portraits for newspapers, but those are a part of the sports deal here too. Preview stories, all area teams, etc.

And the more I think about it, I think it is good. Because I do like portrait work in my off time. So getting paid to do it should be fun too. As long as I try to do something creative and interesting.

Didn't have a lot of prep time on this one, but I like it.

This one not as much, but still works.

Didn't get a lot of heads up on this one. I thought it was going to be an inside thing, but it wasn't. Luckily I had an extra light with me, so I was able to make it work. I felt bad because it was 50 degrees, so all of these girls were cold.

I feel like I'm even starting to lose my cold tolerance a little. Maybe it's just cause I'm sick.

This is from a play at the local college. It was pretty damned funny, some shots were blurry because I was laughing so hard. Didn't get to see all of it, might go back.

Sort of a pre-Seinfeld crazy neighbor character.

That's it. I'm going home for lunch

GAMES: Assassins and Spies: Double B, Double Review! AC:Brotherhood and 007 Bloodstone

Not going to apply numbers to this anymore. It just isn't working for me, sorry numbers. It's not you, it's me.

Just for time and because I've been trying to make these things shorter, for your sake, I'm going to combine these two games.

I think, in fact, if I could combine these two games it might be the greatest game of the sneaky/assassin/kill-tons-of-people game ever.

Assassins Creed: Brotherhood is great. I like the series, the first two were awesome. A bit frustrating with the free running every so often, especially in the rooftop foot chases of thieves or messengers.

The bitch of it is, I don't have to chase them. It's completely extra. But I WANT to chase them. 1. Because it is often quick fun and 2. (more importantly) it is VERY gratifying, after losing a couple chases because of a stupid mis-step that sent you flying off a roof into the river, to barrel down on that bastard and tackle him to the ground. I feel like a lion chasing some stupid zebra that tried to steal my wallet. "Yeah, that was a mistake and now you are MINE!" If he happens to get thrown off the roof...well, accidents happen.

AC: B isn't a sequel, it's basically a continuation of AC:2, picking up exactly where 2 left off. It grows the story line and grows the core of the game. I wouldn't be surprised if it started out as DLC, but they just kept adding stuff until they realized it would take forever to download.

The big things it adds, mechanically and story-wise, is the title referenced Brotherhood. Instead of Ezio being the lone wolf BA killer McGee, he is now in charge of a growing band of hooded, wrist-blade wielding acrobats. You have to liberate Rome from control of the Borgia by killing the bosses of several towers and then burning the tower to the ground. Getting the bosses is fun and can be very challenging/impossible if you want to do a clean one body assassination. Burning the towers is just like climbing for the lookout points, but with a fiery explosion!

You are able to use the brotherhood at anytime, after a short "recharge" from previous use. It's a simple target and single button death signal. It can make the game too easy, if you let it. Because, strangely, your brothers can swoop in (actually accompanied by an eagle screech) and eliminate guards in your path and then vanish without a trace most times. It's nice they draw no attention to you, and can actually act as a diversion allowing you to sneak somewhere you might have had to work hard to get too otherwise.

It's a neat mechanic. You also send them on separate missions around the world to get them to level up. But if you send them all and get in a pinch you are on your own. You can whistle all you want, Rocco probably won't be able to make it back from Moscow in time to help you with those guards.

I really, really want to try the multiplayer...but don't have the internet at my house yet. So I only had the story and the many side quests to entertain me, darn. That's just a drag. :D

As usual, tons of exploration goodies to find.

A little tip for you, if you are a treasure hunter like I am. DON'T SELL the stupid stuff you find. Keep all the ivory and shrunken heads or whatever else. Because later you get shop quests for fancy items and that is the crap you need to find. I sold a bunch of crap then got the quests and it took forever to find it because I'd already found so many of the treasures.

Good fun though.

One thing I think Assassins Creed needs to embrace is the use of cover systems. I know it's the popular thing to do, but for a profession that dwells in the shadows it is a must. So many times tailing a subject or sneaking into a place and I walked up to a corner to observe, only to be beyond the corner and they spotted me. Super annoying.


007 Bloodstone, sadly, didn't get the same amount of time in my console tray. But I feel confident I experienced what the game had to offer. I just have a threshold that sometimes sees games come to an early end.

I liked it though, for what is and tries to be. It is a sort of fun game, it tries to be another piece of the James Bond pie of entertainment fiction. The last movie was kind of..."meh" in comparison to Casino Royale and the game story is kind of "meh" in comparison to a lot.

It is a completely original story, voiced by Daniel Craig and Judy Dench (whose character model looks AWFUL in the cut scenes, she looks like Leatherface), but only Dench's work sounds like the movies. Craig's work seems like he phone it in, maybe it was the script but I swear there was a "scene" where someone was talking to him for awhile and he said "yes" or some other one word response...and that was it. Come on, give me something.

The Game here is very movie like, there are lots of cool spots where you see really awesome stuff, explosions and all that. There are several parts where Bond is trying to escape or catch up from/to something/someone and the use of music and effects makes the urgency seem quite real.

One such chase/escape (you are chasing someone on a train and escaping a helicopter at the same time) has Bond in the beautiful Astin Martin driving on a mostly frozen river. It is quite fun, but by the sixth time I was a little annoyed. This may be my crappy Low Definition TV but I don't think so. The ice and open water parts of the river are very similar colors, so it makes high speed navigation more likely to end with wet socks.

On the flip side one of the times you swing the ass end of the car out and it starts to go into the water but you continue the slide and escape will make you feel like a bad ass.

There were several WOW moments in the game, most, if not all, were in said chase/escape moments. But they were fun and the basic mechanics of the game are entertaining for awhile, but repeat themselves quickly.

The movement is...less than fluid. 007 runs like he has to pee, but you get used to it.

The cover and fight systems both work well. I would have liked to see a little more involvement in the hand to hand combat. Since it is listed as "BRUTAL" on the back of the box. It's a single button and you watch the awesome thing. I want to be part of the awesomeness.

Even a three button mash timer, because Bond doesn't dominate all his fights. That's what I loved about Casino Royale, he got all messed up.



Now, if I were a magician or game Czar of the world, I would take the cover system from Bloodstone and put it in Brotherhood. It would be awesome to have your back to a wall on a corner waiting for a target to come by and you just pounce. Kind of like when hidden in a haystack or on a bench, but much more realistic. Plus it would make tailing people a lot easier. As long as they don't make a common mistake, like in Gears of War, where the cover button is a shared button. Don't do that.

I really think Bloodstone could use some more of AC's free running; there is a little, but nothing of your own choosing, Bond is basically Super Mario. You walk to a ledge and are actually prompted to jump. Free running was also featured nicely in Casino Royale, but not over done, which was good.

AC could definitely use 007's "restart from checkpoint" menu option. Especially since AC added qualifying actions to missions to reach full synchronization. Stuff like don't get noticed or only kill your target. Those are fun things to try but if you mess up once, even if you die (which takes a lot sometimes), it remembers that you made a mistake. Which really sucks if you were two feet past a checkpoint.


AC: Brotherhood is worth a lot of time, likely purchase if you liked either of the others. I've heard nothing but good stuff about the multiplayer, and its something I said the first one should have had. Co-op would probably make my head explode.

It's doubly good if you like the storyline. Because this one continues it and has a hell of an ending.

007 Bloodstone is probably worth a rent, especially if you have a game pass (yeah!) because you can take it back as soon as you get tired of the grind.

GAMES: A kind, noble ruler...who married a whore. FABLE 3 : Xbox 360

As I previously mentioned in my Fallout : New Vegas post, I try to be an upstanding person in the realm of pixels and polygons. More often than not, it is because I feel I should but also because it is my belief that the good half of the game got more attention than the bad half. So it is in my best interest as a player to go after the best piece of game.

In Fable 3 I once again marched down the path of nobility with my prince's chiseled chin held high.

The game picks up where 2 left off, just one generation later. You are your son. From 2, that guy, you're his son. Your son. Whatever.

The Molyneux promise I heard early on for 3 was that your actions would have direct effect on the look of your kingdom. That I didn't really see. When you finally ascend to the throne (I'm trying not to give anything away, but you should have figured that out) you are asked whether you want your castle decorated in good or evil. While I'm curious what evil would have looked like, I went with good and saw no change.

I was kind, I was immensely giving, I slaved over a firey hand and steel blade for hours to give these people freedom and what thanks did I get?

Near the end everyone hated me anyway, even though I was virtuous and kind. But, just because I bought every store and most houses in the kingdom, people hated me.

I had a few loves out there, ya know a Prince has got certain needs. My first marriage ended in shambles, childless with a drunken wife.

So the second time around I married Stacey the Whore. Partially, okay, MOSTLY because I thought it was funny as hell. Every time I come home I am greeted by "Stacey the Whore."

But, in addition to my laughter I got 3 STDs and a black daughter. So perhaps the laughing wasn't worth it.



Fable 3 has some graphic issues, but more and more I'm curious whether the graphic popping that I'm continually seeing are poorly made games or my suffering 360, which I'm betting will die in the very near future.

Regardless, the graphic pops didn't matter to me, I had fun.

Combat was fun, frustrating to come up against a pack of balvarines without any health potion, but still fun.

New weapons all have different modifications you earn by performing certain tasks, that give certain perks. Like kill 200 hallow men and earn +30 to damage against hallow men.

The addition of the Sanctuary made weapon/spell/clothing switches a breeze. Start magically pulls you into this lobby where your butler stands ready and multiple rooms lead you to whatever you want to change. Clothing is purely aesthetic but, like I said, different weapons can have different perks, so changing them up can help in battle.

You can also combine spells, like fire and ice, to make icy fire balls. Or something.


Now, there is an inventory, but I never knew how to get to it. That is stupid. Nothing ever told me how to get it, potions and food will pop up when you are injured, but other than that you have to do some LT + RT magic and dance around in a circle or something.

How about this Pete? Back button. It didn't really do anything anyway.

Also a map button would have been nice, not that the maps (available through the Sanctuary) were overly helpful anyway. It barely matched the actual world.

The quest list is accessed in a similar fashion, which was also annoying.


The BIGGEST issue is the complete lack of control for interactions. What a mess!

Interactions with people is a huge part of Fable. You have to gain followers, friends, enemies or all. You do this almost entirely through interactions like Hug, Scare, Hero Pose, etc.

But you get three buttons when the interaction menu comes up. A, Y and X

A is good, Y is middle, and X is bad. But the action that comes up is, well, I was going to say random, but its not. It's chosen by the game.

So Dance came up on A almost all the time for me. I know it's a game and I'm not stressing about this, but I'm not big on me (or my videogame equivalent) dancing with dudes.

Because it's not like a little kicks, let's joke around dance. It's a fricking slow dance, with a kiss on the hand at the end. Come on!



The halves of the game, well it's more like the first 3/4 and the last 1/4 are different, you battle for the first part and the last bit you are the king and have to make kingly decisions.

That was a cool thing. Because you can promise all you want throughout the election, but once you get to the throne you have the grim realities of running the country. So you as the bastion of Hope may wear away quite quickly.

Because as a ruler it is the end game you have to keep in mind. So hearing the proposals for using a small swamp town as a place to dump all your kingdom's waste might sound cruel, but the economic gain is tempting.


FABLE 3

4 of 5 as a game
3.5 of 5 as a sequel

Beat it in one rental, considered going back through on evil, but figured the main quests wouldn't change and they wouldn't be as fun a second time.

GAMES: Gamble on Gunfire! Fallout: New Vegas for XBOX 360

I'm a little slow on this one. I moved across the country and don't have the internet either. Jeez. But Texas is warm, so I'm dealing with it. :D

The big plus, videogame-wise, is I'm in a town where I don't know anyone, so I work and go home and play video games. It's sad, I know.

Anyway. Fallout New Vegas.

I've loved Fallout since the very first one. I'd kind of like to see the world where everyone is forced to abandon their technological dependencies and return to a simpler way of life. The strong few trying to salvage a living off the decaying husk of the world that once sheltered the masses of the weak.

Maybe not if that world is full of giant mutants that try to crush my head with a chunk of cement at the end of rods of rebar...but who knows.


If you played Fallout 3 then New Vegas isn't going to surprise you a lot, from what I've seen so far.

The biggest change is there are more possibilities for crafting in this one. Which fits well in a post-apocalyptic scavenger paradise.

You would be constantly trying to keep what you had working and making new things to survive the harsh brutality of the world around you.

The Reload Bench has been added, usually near the Work Bench (which has also received some changes).

The Reload Bench allows you to create or breakdown ammo. So those that have a favorite weapon that has rare ammo, can now breakdown all the worthless 9mm bullets and get the powder and lead to make .357 rounds. Provided you have all the other pieces to make that ammo.

For the Work Bench there are many, many more recipes in New Vegas. Pieces of plants can be picked to be combined to make healing balms, snacks and a foliage ferris wheel. Not really on the ferris wheel.

And now your wanderer can also utilize Campfires as tools to create food and items for your continued survival.

You can kill a dog and eat the meat raw, sure...any savage bastard can do that. It's the sophisticated bastard that waits and cooks the meat before jamming it down his gullet.

These changes now give you a TON more stuff to carry.

In standard play, ammo doesn't have any weight but in the new HARDCORE mode it does. HARDCORE must be capitalized, cause that's how HARDCORE it is.

If you want to know how you would behave after a global pandemic or nuclear war situation, play on HARDCORE.

Instead of just monitoring your health and equipment condition you also have to deal with your character's water and food intake, as well as the amount of sleep you get.

It's not for the faint of heart.

I try to be a morally upstanding character in the vast confusion and chaos presented in the Fallout scenario.

Yes, I will help the old couple with their livestock being killed every night.

But you better be damn sure I'm going to rob their house of anything I need at the very first moment they turn their backs on me. I'm playing to LIVE, dammit!



Basically, the game is similar to F:3, with some good tweaks.

Which is in no way a bad thing. It's more awesome story, but set in an entirely new location. So you get to play the good story AND explore the new land.




Fallout: New Vegas

Rented once, likely will buy as soon as I get money.

5 out of 5 as a sequel. Improves on the original, but leaves the good stuff alone.
5 out of 5 as a game. Just plain awesome.

GAMES: A Story you can't refuse....sort of. Mafia 2 XBOX360

Just when I thought I was out with my Demo Review of Mafia 2 the world of 2K Czech has pulled me back in.

Yep, I'm a bit of a mafia nerd. Which sounds like an oxymoron, but it isn't. The topic is fascinating to me. In my Michigan history class in college I wrote a paper on the Purple Gang (Detroit's ruthless gang of Jewish gangsters during Prohibition). That was about the ONLY paper in my college career that I finished early; I also wrote over the required pages.

So games about the mafia are extra fun for me, because I can live in that realm without the possibility of going to jail or being shot and stuffed in the trunk of a car.

Mafia 2 is a nice piece of story telling. Games sometimes forget about a compelling story and you just have aimless fun until you are bored, at least that's what I seem to do. Others hold you to a rigid story line that leave little "free will" style play that open world games like Grand Theft Auto brought to the masses.

The first Mafia had no real free roam, there was a mode where you could just drive around, but there wasn't a ton to do.

Mafia 2 lets you wander around mostly whenever, but the world just isn't as interesting as the story.

Empire Bay, the fictional East-coast city, is beautifully crafted. The buildings are nice where they should be and kind of scummy in the bad places. I didn't see many beat up cars in the poor parts of town, which seems like an easy piece of realism.

As I said in my demo review, the realism is quite nice. Rob a place and hang around (hidden!) outside and you'll see the cops come and interview the shop owner. Murder the shop owner and come back you'll see the shop closed with police tape over the door. The cars get dirty after a lot of driving and they will apparently run out of gas.

There are destructible environments in the gun fights, which is very nice. "Oh no, he's hiding behind plywood." Rat-a-tat-tat-tat. Plywood gone, man dead.

The problem is the story seems to stranglehold what you do in this massive town. In my first couple hours of play I drove in between places, watched very nice cut scenes and then did some shooting or fighting, then drove some more.

Yeah, that is the basic formula for missions in sandbox games...and that is sort of the problem. There isn't anything else.

GTA4 actually had TOO much stuff to do, with the missions and all your friends you had to entertain by doing stupid things like bowling or watching a comedy performance, so that was annoying. But at least there was some other substance to the game.

Mafia 2 seems to have gone the other way. The game is the story. With these pieces that spend so much time on creating a living, breathing city the game should be the world. That world should have a good story in it, for sure, but it should also have places for me to go and do things not related to the story.

In one of the first couple Chapters of the story you meet a man at a junkyard and he asks you to steal a car for him. The mission was fun, people mad and shooting because of the stolen car, a good time was had by all; but after that mission I should be able to go back and make more money getting him other cars, but it won't let you until way later in the story.

You can do what I did for the majority of the time I played the demo; rob stores. That will put a little scratch in your pocket and cause some possible gun-play, depending on the neighborhood and police proximity. But that also is later an actual mission. So it isn't just something extra to do. It's something you'll have to do to get money quickly anyway.

But really, there isn't a lot to buy. Food and drink, clothes, car modifications, car washes and gasoline are all you can spend money on. The gas and car washes are the only two of those things you can't steal.

You most expensive thing you spend money on are bribes if you get into trouble, likely after trying to steal something. But I just shoot the cops in the face and then change my clothes.

I understand 2K's drive to make a compelling story that is engaging and beautiful looking. But as a gamer I want more random fun! As a mafia buff I want more criminal activities!

Collecting protection money, hijacking trucks or beating deadbeats could all easily be side quests that you pick up at any time. Obviously there are no cell phones for them to call you on to let you know the truck is coming through town, but I'm sure the 2K guys could come up with some clever way to do it.

HITS! I want to do crazy Valentine's Day Massacre hits on people! There is the one from the demo, but that wasn't all that special, and another one that did make me very happy to pull off. But in a big city with multiple families (kneecapping families, not go to the store for groceries families) you'd think there would be enough hatred to justify a hit list for a side quest.

With DLC already planned before the game even came out I wonder how much time they spent making this game complete. The DLC looks to be different stories, which is fine, but you have to pay for it.

So this game that I was super excited about is around $60 and there isn't much to do.

Stretching it you can prolong the gameplay to about 15 hours or so. But that's really stretching it.

I often calculate how much I'm willing to pay for fun. Mafia 2 breaks down to about $4 an hour for fun. Sure, I have payed more than that for an hour of fun before...that sounded bad.

But the problem is this isn't like paintball or going to the movies. When you buy a game you've essentially told the makers, "I trust your product and I'm not going to be buying any others for awhile...entertain me." But so often they let you down.

Which is why renting is my default. And also why, I suspect, there is a such a debate going on about purchasing used games.

Yes, I want to support 2K for making such a nice game, but I want the rest of it. GTA 4 cost the same amount and had me enthralled for months. I rented Mafia 2 a week ago and have been playing it sparingly and I'm already almost done. A large difference in the purchase is the amount of re-playability. I could pick up GTA 4 and easily be entertained in the single player for awhile, even just driving around. Mafia 2 is also fun just driving around, but not as much.

A linear story line is not enticing after you've beaten it. That's why side quests are important in games like this, they distract and entertain you, stretching the length of your fun per dollar.


Despite all that gibberish, I did like it. It's just not the game I thought it was going to be.


Mafia 2

Rented once, likely not again. Very glad I did not purchase.

4 out of 5 as a sequel. Much better than the original
3 out of 5 as a game. Just not enough there.

GAMES: Goombah Gunplay: Mafia 2 Demo Impressions

I really liked the first Mafia game. Honestly, I pretty much like all games involving a secret society of pasta eating criminals.

The first Godfather game was not good, but the second had a nice appeal that had me right up to the point I returned it...but I didn't re-rent.

But I've been really excited about Mafia 2. The first was a pretty fun game and based on my time with the demo for 2, it looks to be even better.

The demo gives you one mission, really half a mission, at the completion of which the demo ends.

It starts as a pretty simple mission, go here, kill guy, leave. But turns on its head quickly ending with your car stuck on a bridge boxed in by police. Short and sweet, but fun. A good show of the game's new cover system and gun selection.

But you don't have to do the mission. You are allowed to free roam, in a very limited piece of the city, for around 10 minutes. So it's a not very free, free roam. But unlike the first game this one actually seems to have true free roam.

What it usually entails is me driving around robbing stores, fighting people and then being killed in a hail of police gunfire with about a minute left on the timer.
Then I start back in the characters house with more time. :D

But in my play through I'm not just robbing and beating people for the sheer joy a goon would get out of these things, I'm doing vital game research for you! So stop judging me or I break-a you face!

The AI in Mafia 2 is pretty smart and the realism of the game is quite nice. Police will pull you over for speeding, like in the first game, so you can turn on a speed limiting option to avoid the hassle if you aren't in a hurry.

Also robbing shops has a dash of realism. Don't go into the gun store and try rob that dude, because he has a shotgun and likely you ain't got one. So you hit the burger joints, gas stations and clothing stores.

But be warned, pulling out a gun in stores in certain neighborhoods will get you shot by gun-toting civilians.

But if you wander into a shop with the intent of a simple robbery and end up committing a murder, when you come back later the store will be closed, adorned with police tape. That isn't a necessary gameplay mechanic, but it's a sheer point of realism that makes the game more fun. The lesson I learned, if you want a dram of scotch, don't go shooting up the bar earlier.

The biggest thing for me in most games (even games where it isn't even close to the point) is driving. It's fun.

I like it in real life and I love it in video games. In Halo 3 multiplayer battles on Live with friends, I'm behind the wheel of the Warthog. Yeah, I might only have 3 kills the whole game, but I've likely racked up around 20-30 assists with a competent gunner.

So in a big open game like Mafia 2 cars ARE a big deal. Set in the mid 40s to 50s the cars are a bit more my style than in the first one. I saw a nice collection of cars similar to real cars, including Thunderbirds and Corvettes as well as the lumbering land-yacht style Buicks of the era.

Some gamers might complain about the handling and power of the cars, but you would in real life too. Automotive technology has come a long way. These cars didn't handle that well. So it's all part of the realism.

In the vein of realism it should be noted this game should only be played by adults. Lots of violence and swearing. It also features several Playboy centerfolds as collectible items in-game. Hidden items are a staple of the sandbox style games. It promotes exploration of the huge, beautiful world the developers created. This game just happens to use boobies to make the items more enticing. :D

It wasn't readily apparent to me the first couple play-throughs, but the demo includes gangs on the street.

Driving a car I "borrowed" from a neighbor I was cruising in a downtown area and a fellow on the sidewalk commented on my driving style as I pulled up to a tailor's shop.

I took offense to his unwanted criticism and engaged him in fisticuffs. Upon thrashing the man I started taking gunfire from across the street. Apparently the man I had beaten up was a member of a gang in the area. The matching track suits and firearms cemented the idea in my head and I fled the area with about six of them chasing me.

The hand-to-hand fighting system is very nice in it's simplicity. Two punch buttons and a block/evade. But if you wear your opponent down you can finish them off with a punch combo or stylish, slow motion boot to the face.

There are a few issues with the demo that I hope get fixed up before the game's release on August 24th. There are some graphic load issues. One thing that seemed to pop in late all the time were the gas stations. As you would roll up it looked like it had silver windows and then a few seconds later you can see the interior of the shop.

Also, getting into cars can be a bit clunky. You yank a guy out of his car, most of the time so that you can get in and drive it, but the default move is to yank the guy out and stand there looking at him. The context cue on screen says "Y: Steal car"

But it doesn't. Maybe it should say "Y: Pull dude out Y: again and again to get in car"

Sometimes pushing Y near my own car wouldn't get me inside with the speed that I would hope. People are shooting at me, I don't want my character to dilly-dally around.

Aside from the stupid time limit (something more and more studios are doing with their demos) I am very happy with the Mafia 2 demo and am really looking forward to the release later this month.

I may buy it on release day, unless somewhere in town has it for rent.

Mt. Pleasant used to be a terrible town for video games on release day. They'd get movies the day they came out, but games could sometimes take a week or more.

It made me buy a lot of games it turned out I really didn't want. Yes I know, it didn't "make" me. But it didn't leave me with many options as far as playing the game I wanted to play.

Luckily the rental places seem to be coming around to notice that video game people are rabid about playing their games as soon as they come out. We ignore our actual duties to play these things. I may call in sick. :D

Verdict: Looking forward to release date. May buy without rental.

Very likely there will be a game review after the retail release.

GAMES: Jumpy, Jumpy. Punchy, Punchy. Crackdown 2 : Xbox 360

I looked at the first Crackdown without much enthusiasm. It was a golden ticket into the Halo 3 beta, that is the only reason I wanted it.

But it really was a golden ticket, because it was a surprise. I bit into that chocolate, prepared for gawd awful dark chocolate taste but got some sweet, sweet milk chocolate.

The original Crackdown was SO fun to play. The premise wasn't overly intricate, but the delivery was very well done.


I approached Crackdown 2 with a bit of excitement, but I was prepared for it to be crappy as well, because Realtime Worlds was not behind this one.

Well I was not disappointed...in my disappointment. It was disappointing.

Jumping super high and collecting agility orbs was my favorite part of the first one, that carries over. The rest of the game is also similar, but because it is the SECOND one, it should be different.

Sequels are supposed to improve on the brand, not carbon copy and then throw in some annoying zombie things that make movement at night annoying as hell.


But I would play the game, I would suffer the stupid squishy creatures of the night just for the fun of jumping from rooftop to rooftop, but I can't. The voice-over, announcer guy makes me want to yell most of the time. Occasionally, he's funny. Describing the traction of the Agency Supercar by saying it "sticks to the road like shit to a blanket."

But the rest of the time I want to find him and use my agent's super strength to choke that guy til his throat pops. Sorry...that was a bit much.

Anyway, you get to hear this D-bag give you helpful tips like "collect agility orbs while you are on foot around the city" or "complete vehicle stunt challenges for a major boost to your driving skill." But he always says them over and over while you are doing something else, and NEVER while you are actually in a position to do those things.

There are quite a few issues, technically, like aiming and camera placement. As a baddie car rolls up and two guys get out your aim, more often than not, sticks on the car. It also often jumps to a Agency car or a civilian car. SUPER annoying.

But I think I'd fire bomb all the civilians anyway, because they don't respect me! Mr. Announcer Man can yell at me all he wants about not running over civies or agency peace keepers, but SCREW THAT. None of those idiots get out of the way when you are driving down the road, EVER!

Even with lights and sirens on no one moves. WHAT THE HELL? Yeah, I don't want to kill the pedestrian traffic, but I'm chasing a renegade driving orb here. I don't have time to try and miss all these idiots. The orb is the one that chose to cut up on to the sidewalk and down the alley full of people.



The only saving grace this game might have is multiplayer, which I couldn't do because I don't want to play with some random person and I don't know anyone who rented it. But I don't think even that is enough to get me to rent it again.


Crackdown 2
Rented once. Likely never again

1.25 out of 5 as a sequel
2.5 out of 5 if you haven't played previous versions (just go rent the first one)

GAMES: POW! Right in the Kisser: Red Dead Redemption: (X360)

This one will be short, cause it's my day off, I'm busy as heck and I want to free up some more time to play Red Dead Redemption.

Played the original, liked it a lot. Seems like such a long time ago, so I'm treating this as it's own game.

SINGLE PLAYER:

I'm a good bit through the single player, excellent.
Some of the cut scenes can drag on and on it seems, but you can skip past any of them, even ones you haven't seen.
The Campfire mechanic is kind of cool, being able to save anywhere, but still have to "do" something. Outfits is also an idea I thought was neat. Apparently you when you unlock one of the "gangs" outfits you can camouflage yourself as them; don't know how that works, but sounds cool. Just haven't tried it.

There is a fair amount of story and side missions to keep one person entertained for quite awhile. Plus the option to go back and do the game differently; I'm being good now, but next time I'm trying to be a Wild West Satan.

Showdowns are back, of course, but the bullet time slow down now has an appearance outside of dudes standing in a street. Dead Eye can be used in the middle of a gun fight or hunting or whatever by clicking down the right analog. In single player it slows stuff down and lets you pick where to shoot someone. In multiplayer you don't slow down, but get the shoot choosing and then super quick shot succession. Worth its weight in gold in multiplayer.

MULTIPLAYER:

Been playing quite a bit more multiplayer, super excellent.
The Free Roam mode is the lobby of sorts, select multiplayer, that's where you go to posse up and choose what you actually want to do.

The only thing that sucks is when your connection "fails," as it seems to do randomly in this game, you are bounced from Free Roam and stuck in a limbo loading screen. If you don't want to back out to the dashboard and reload the game, just unplug your network cable from the Box of X and it will kick you into single player.

Level progression in multiplayer is fun, killing "real" people is always more entertaining, because they think. Or they don't. I've come across some really dumb people in this game, but it's XboxLive so I wasn't surprised.

All the gametypes are fun, Free Roam is entertaining because you can do the gang hideouts and work on your Challenges (explained below). But there is always the looming threat of a posse riding you down and interrupting your progress. Some may find that frustrating, and it is, but I think it's also exciting. Any old school MMO player knows the terror of being ganked by roaming packs of PKs in Ultima Online.
It's the same sort of feeling.

In both play options you have Challenges, which range from shooting a different number of animals, to picking flowers (seriously), traveling different distances by different means and shooting skill challenges. All different and doable while you are doing other stuff, so it is a nice distraction among all the killing. :D

Controls can cause a little frustration in Red Dead, not moving the way you want it to, but only for a moment. Which is usually enough to get you killed.

Horses can also be frustrating, especially in multiplayer. I've whistled for my horse and the damn thing just runs right by me and stops. So I go to get on, but he keeps walking away. Maybe he was scared by the line of 5 dead horses, but he should realize I am not a man to be trifled with and if you keep walking away you will get a slug in the side of your head and then be sold to Elmers.


Red Dead Redemption
4.75 out of 5

Bought it after one rent

Bask in TV's warm glowing, warming glow. Until it fades and leaves you frozen out in a hedge maze.

All the good shows on TV seem to get canceled. I know why, of course. It's not a whiskey induced sense of grandeur. It's your fault. Well, not you specifically, because if you are reading this your IQ is probably above room temperature. But "you," as the general TV viewing public, are morons. It's a sad state, for sure, but I think it's getting better.

Good TV is better than any movie could ever be, but bad TV is worse than Ben Affleck in...well, anything.

I fancy myself a man of decent intelligence, even though I misspelled that word (whiskey's fault, I swear) and spell-check saved my ass, and I appreciate a good TV show.

I think The Sopranos changed a good deal of viewer perception of television serieseses. It was a drama, a serious character piece that showed multiple flawed characters in their true states and then moved them forward, into different shapes of themselves or the bottom of a body of water.

Unfortunately, The Sopranos didn't come out soon enough to save one of my favorite shows; Sports Night. They overlapped but I don't think HBO had enough influence in series programming at the time to save my show.

Sports Night was a comedramy, comedy-drama, or what-have-you. It was clever and that, I believe, was it's main downfall. That and ABC didn't promote the award winning series at all. But I can't say I don't understand the problem. How do you promote a show that is serious and funny to people that watch Jerry Springer? You can't because those people are worthless sacks that sit on their couches and lower the overall rating of human beings in the eyes of the aliens that watch us for entertainment.

Arrested Development is another show cut down because dumb people didn't watch it and the dumb network didn't advertise it. In all honesty, I didn't watch the show while it was on the air, because I didn't know about it. It's a show that requires memory and intelligence; two things most viewers do not possess. Shows like Life According to Jim and Friends don't have much for continuity that fans most pay attention to. Plus it is one of the most quotable shows of all time. But quoting it usually only makes a few people laugh. Arrested Development had so many long running jokes that almost every episode either referenced a previous or set up a future one, often both.

I think that required devotion is what kills some of these shows, if I like a show if I miss an episode I don't want to watch a new one, until I'm caught up. But until recently there were no options for this. Now the internet and On Demand make it possible for me to watch a show, usually before the next episodes comes on. Some channels are TERRIBLE at posting their shows though. FX is pretty slow. I'm get so interested in the worlds and characters of these shows that I will scour the internets to find somewhere to catch up. So FYI networks, put your crap up on the internet and you will likely get more viewers hook if they can actually watch your show.

But what also happens is just as bad is a show that runs WAY too long, like The Simpsons. The first ten seasons of The Simpsons are some of the best works of comedy in television history. The problem is it has run 10 years long than it should have. Originality left that show quite a long time ago, I gave up watching it several years ago when every show had a celebrity guest that played themselves and the family went somewhere like China or New York.

Good television shows should end when the story arch naturally runs itself out. FX is a good channel to watch, because they take chances but they also trust the creativity of their shows. The Shield ran for seven seasons and ended when Shawn Ryan wanted it to end. FX supported the show when most would have canceled it and allowed it to finish when most would have made it drag out until people just stopped watching.

Okay, now that my post is running over in length I will cut it with a proper ending, like good shows do.

Here's a list of others shows I like that aren't on TV anymore...I like cop shows, so there are a few of them, but I didn't mention most of them previously.

Touching Evil - A noir-ish detective show starring Jeffrey Donovan (Burn Notice). Very gritty and original...for a rip-off of a British show. The cinematography was very nice and the stories were good. NOT ON DVD, which is lame.

Firefly - a space-western that, despite being by the creator of Buffy was really good. On DVD with a movie that prequels and sequels the show.

Life - A cop show staring Damien Lewis (Band of Brothers) that was one of the more interesting cop shows. 2 seasons on DVD.

Life on Mars - Also a cop show that was a rip-off of a British show but it had a very unique premise that was done very well. On DVD

Ed - Was a pretty clever show. It starred Tom Cavanagh, who is a clever actor, that was not viewed by clever people. Not on DVD.

Dead Like Me - Funny/serious/gruesome show about a girl who becomes a grim reaper. Very well done. 2 seasons on DVD and a movie that isn't nearly as good as the show.

Jekyll - A BBC drama about a modern day Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Don't actually know if it was canceled or just wrapped up (as the Brits like to do) but it was damn clever and I wanted more of it. PLUS, you get to see Zach from Saved by the Bell get decapitated! Worth the price of admission.On DVD.

Over There - An Iraq war drama on FX that ran one season as was capital "A" Awesome. Good characters and serious drama that contained multiple story arcs at the same time. On DVD

Briscoe County Jr. - A western starring Bruce Fucking Campbell. Nuff said! On DVD.

The Critic - A cartoon starring Jon Lovitz. Clever...thus canceled. On DVD.

Baseball fun

Shooting Chippewa Hills baseball today I was wandering around the field, after being told to leave the field by the softball ump (for no other reason than he doesn't know what he's doing) I left (Sorry Chip Hills girls, no photos of you for Wednesday) and focused on baseball.

Got this shot in a moment of comeback for the team. The color went really wonky, but I like it because of that, otherwise, normal high five.

GAMES: I Spy with my little eye, a bunch of dead guards. Splinter Cell: Conviction

The Splinter Cell games have always gripped me. Then used their elbows to cave in the soft spot at the back of my skull, rendering me a sack of worthless flesh laying on the ground.

Honestly, I didn't spend much time with Double Agent because when it came out I couldn't rent it and when I finally got it my situation just didn't allow for a lot of free time, so I had to abandon the game like a poor war buddy who was blown in half during a fire fight. I love you Billy, but I gotta get this freaking homework done!

When I played the demo for Conviction my inner Sam Fisher woke up, in a frenzied blood-lust; wanting vengeance against pitiless henchmen and innocent light bulbs. Damn you, light bulbs!

Conviction is different but the same, better but worse than other Splinter Cell games.

The text on the walls is a clever tutorial mechanic that rolls into the higher gameplay, telling you what to do. Tim Buckley of CtrlAltDelete poked fun at it here. The memory videos projected onto walls are also interesting, but easily overlooked, which isn't always a bad thing.

Weapon and gadget upgrades in Conviction is a nice addition. Sam doesn't start with the biggest and best anymore, being outside of Third Echelon, he has to earn scopes and higher damage grenades by getting achievements, mainly from killing henchmen in various, creative ways.

They fine tuned the story and presentation in this release and I'm itching to snap some more necks, like right now if I didn't have to work and even that is barely enough to restrain my urge.

My want is always much more important than my need.

Fisher as a super-badass, super spy was fun but pushing it through several games without any real evolution would have led to continual stale rehashing.

Conviction shows Sam out of the spy game, for about 3 seconds, until he is pulled back in with information about his daughter.

As always the missions leave you to decided how to approach and deal with various guards and bosses. One new trick Fisher has this time is an "Execution" mode. Cued up by taking someone out in hand to hand combat you can mark multiple baddies in Fisher's vision and then "Execute." Sam pulls his pistol and plants a head shot on all the marked targets, hopefully clearing a bottleneck situation.

This is emphasized in co-op play. Teammates can tag baddies and use each others Execute or position themselves and perform a synchronized Dual Execute.

One complaint I have, as apparently most other reviewers do, is you no longer have the ability to move bodies. Now, I've never been an actual spy or hitman. But I've played enough games to know that when you are stealthily dropping goombahs you don't want to leave a trail of them for someone to find. In old Splinter Cell the elbow to the head and the carry were part of the same swift stealth Splinter Sam smotion. Sorry, wanted to keep the alliteration going.

It seems like a simple game mechanic, why leave it out?

Multiplayer is quite entertaining, if only for the missions where it is better to NOT knock out every guard because it turns into a "who is going to cave and punch one of them" contest. But in this contest everyone loses, because you have to start the mission again. Yeah, Shawn! Leave him alone!

Strategizing and communication are key aspects of multiplayer gameplay for me. You take the two up top, I'll grab this guy down here then we'll tea bag everyone else. Communication is essential in tea bagging scenarios people!

Sometimes your duo has no choice but to forcefully take a door and it leaves the super spies completely exposed. But only a silly spy breaks a door down without peaking under or using a sonic detector or the Force to figure out how many henchmen are standing on the other side. Silly spies, they never learn.

Chaos Theory had some fun multiplayer actions where one spy would launch the other over a wall to access something. That doesn't seem to be in Conviction, which is a bummer. Double Agent might have had it, don't know. I should go back to that one.

Anyway, so far so good. May amend this upon further play time, but I'm under a similar time constrained situation as with Double Agent. So I might leave you with this.

Splinter Cell: Conviction
Still in possession. Very likely to re-rent.

3.75 out of 5 as a sequel
4 out of 5 if you haven't played previous versions

Don't Dew Me

For some reason at times I like to practice self deprivation. Being American, most of the time I enjoy over indulgence to a sickening extent and I don't really feel guilty about that, but I like to try to "go without," as it were.

A few months ago I decided, in a dual attempt to see if my random upset stomach attacks were dietary, I gave up alcohol. It took me 24 years to even get into alcohol, so I wasn't too attached to it.

Though I do love scotch. mmmmmmm

So a few weeks of that, there was no real progress either in depriving myself or with the stomach. So I stared down the big bear. The one thing I have ever been addicted to; caffeine.

That's a tough one to give up, my dad drinks more Mountain Dew in a day than the whole of the Mid Michigan area and on certain days I have put quite a few down myself.

It's ingrained in Evon DNA, I'm sure, to imbibe carbonated, caffeinated liquid goodness until there is nothing left at the bottom of that green bottle and then look longingly into said bottle like it just shot your puppy.

"How could you do it Dew? We had such a good time together and now you are gone! Oh, here's another bottle. I love you, Dew."

I wasn't a take-anything-I-could-get, sell-myself-on-the-street kind of addict. I was more of a cocaine connoisseur who only takes blow made from the best coca the Upper Huallaga Valley in Peru has to offer. (HonestyCheck: I Wiki'd that. I don't know jack crap about real drugs, now back to my fun)

I only dabbled in the off brands in my youth, when cares were free and money was scarce; Kick, Faygo's Moon Mist and Mountain Lightning were cheaper choices than the almighty Dew.

In my teens however my taste buds matured and grew to quite large size and couldn't even drink Dew that was a few days over it's expiration or had been shaken too much. (Which has also hindered me in my scotch enjoyment. Blended scotch? What is this, the Great Depression?)

Single malt is Dew. Blended scotch is Coke's random attempts to copy Dew. Mellow Yellow had not only a unappealing name, but tasted like a Dew left open in the basement for 12 years. Surge...terrible. Vault, meh. Entertaining commercials don't a good product make.

But now I have stopped. I had a Dew yesterday, actually, and it was quite the sad addict moment. In the office, things were stressed and I needed one. I could just feel it in my bones that everything would be better if I could have one; I just gotta get my fix and none of this will matter.

So about once a week now, I'll have something with caffeine, more often some carbonated, decaf trickery to fool myself. Squirt, Root beer, Sprit. Decaf Coke. I saw a 12 pack of Caffeine free Mountain Dew, once. That was several years ago. It did taste different, doesn't seem like it should; Coke does but only a tiny bit.

But I'm recovering. Don't know if it was the caffeine or just all the sugar, but I feel...lighter, in mind and body. Minus the crippling head aches the first couple days, it has gone smoothly.

How long I keep clean, we'll see. One day at a time.

That's a moron in your mirror

Yesterday on my way home I saw something that I have seen before, but every time I do I feel like it is the first time. It is something so stupid that my brain puts on a coat on and leaves for a week.

A woman driving in front of me had her rear view mirror turned so she could look at herself. Plus she was on her damn phone!

That's unsafe and stupid as hell. That mirror is there so you can see other motorists or a crazed axe murderer in your backseat, NOT YOURSELF!

If you are doing your makeup that is worse. It's one thing if you are a vain harpy and can't stand not seeing yourself every five minutes, but looking in the mirror long enough to do your makeup is completely careless.

If I were the king of the world people like that would have their license taken away and likely be sterilized. That way their overwhelming stupidity could never spread.

GAMES: Viva Revolucion, or the Asian equivalent - JUST CAUSE 2 for XBox360

The original Just Cause is one of my favorite open world games. The sheer fun of the game cannot be explained by the simple words of man, but I'll give it a shot.

Excitaxplosion parasailgrappletastic.

Had to make that crap up. I rented it when it came out and played it for several skipped classes and wasted homework hours. Now, I'm an adult and I can play video games whenever I want! Except I have dishes to do, a load in the dryer and bills to pay. But video games are fun and I like fun more than real life. HA! Take that stupid responsibilities!

The problem is that Just Cause 2 doesn't demand my attention as much as the first one. It is essentially the same game. Yes it is newer, has better graphics, new features and a beautiful large map. The key difference is the Chaos factor. In order to progress through the main story line you have to blow stuff up!

But JC2, the game...not Jesus Jr., is like Just Cause's little brother, yeah it's newer and can do some different stuff, but it's just not as cool. Sure it has a varsity jacket and a red mustang, but they are hand-me-downs.

In fact, there are some uncool parts. Taking over towns is a bit harder now, you have to blow up all the little pieces of government equipment. Some times that is kind of tough, flying over a facility in a helicopter cursing the pixels of the world below because you are 15% away from clearing the town.

The first game had compounds to storm and bosses to take out. Not the most story oriented, but simple fun.

The strongholds now are towns or military and everyone you must escort a team of dudes so one can hack some terminal. After the fifth time it gets a little old.

The voice acting is god awful. "I'm Bolo Santosi and I'm the leader of the some southeast Asian gang but I sound Jamacian. Mista."

It does something new with the grapple, being able to hook two things together. When you have the chance there is nothing like hooking one end to an enemy and the other to a propane tank that rockets into the sky. Good fun.

I want to like JC2 and I'm trying, but for some reason it doesn't have the drawing power the first one. Maybe I've evolved. But that is unlikely, I don't have much room for growth and most of it is currently taken by giving up caffeine.

Still, it's fun. Definitely worth a rent.


Just Cause 2
Returned after 1 rent, possibly re-rent later.

3 out of 5 as a sequel
4 out of 5 if you haven't played the original

Old > Young: addendum

I was considering posting a dissenting opinion to my own post with the point that old people are bad drivers. Indeed some of them are, BUT so are young people.

There are some bad and some good in both groups.

So it's a draw.

Old People > Young People

Disclaimer: I'm not going to say "elderly" or "progressively aged" or "age enhanced." I'm going to say old people. Hope it doesn't bother you, if it does...it shouldn't.

On a whole, I like old people much more than people my age.

There are many reasons for this, some of them are random and confusing to people that don't master a brain quite as unique as mine. Other reasons are easy to understand.

An easy reason that some might not think about, especially young jerks, is respect.

"Respect your elders" is an ideal I do not believe. I don't respect someone because they have been alive longer than I have. That doesn't warrant respect. What does is the strength and character that most young people don't have, and I'd bet my money they'll never have. But if you went back 30 to 50 years good old people now would be good young people then.

An odd reason I like old people are their words. I hope when I get old I say "warsh" instead of "wash" and "progrum" instead of "program." Why? Well, the weird brain probably, but still...can't wait.

Old people have character, Bill Burden has been alive for over 101 years, so it is obvious the man has stories.

He sure does, but he also has character. Talk to him, or anyone else with true character, for more than a few minutes and it can't help but radiate from their skin like the warm light of a candle.

Old men have strong handshakes, if they don't now I'd bet they damn sure did when they were young. So many young people give you their hand and it goes limp like a dead fish. It's disturbing. Sack up, you nancies!

Toughness was apparently given out by the barrel full in previous generations.

My grandma is a tough lady, but I'm not calling her old, because she could probably kick my butt.

I think my generation and the generation before shared one barrel, because most whine and complain about everything with no gumption to get the job done. Gumption, that's an old people word and I love it. Even if you don't like what you are doing you get it done and you do it well.

There are more reasons but the point is old people > young people.

"Heavy Rain" will soak you to the core

Heavy Rain has been described among posts on the wide webs of inter-networked computation machines as one of the most story oriented video games to date. “Interactive movie” was one phrase tossed around a few times. So I tried to avoid exposure to spoiler monkeys, as I do in regard to movies… and jungles.

If you haven’t played it yet then stop reading now and go play, I’ll wait for you.

If you are uninterested in video games or wouldn’t be able to understand how a game could invoke real emotion then leave, I won’t wait for you.

I am not going to give away the ending but I will discuss points of the story that are best played as surprises.

The story line in Heavy Rain is a four playable character revolution around the hunt for the Origami Killer, a serial killer who kidnaps young boys and then drowns them after a few days.

Penny Arcade’s Tycho posted that the game experience is heightened if you are actually a father. I borrowed a PS3 to play the game and should have tried to borrow a child, I suppose, but if I were going to do that I would have liked to just get them both from the same guy; unfortunately his wife isn’t done making their first child yet, so I had to go without.

Luckily I have a niece and nephew, each easily transposed in the chambers of my heart as my own child.

Ethan Mars, the tormented father character, lost one son at the beginning of the game and has his remaining son kidnapped by the previously mentioned killer. Unknown to others in the game Mars is given tests to discover the location of his son, who is trapped in a cage filling with rain water.

In one quite sadistic test Mars is told to cut off one of his fingers at the first knuckle in front of a web cam to get his next clue.

At this point I was deep in what I will call “game drunk.” It had my complete attention and I shuddered at the thought of losing part of my pinkie. But for real life nephew or niece I’d chop away, so off it went.

Through use of date and time, inches of rainfall, music and heartbeat vibration in the controller the game has a sense of urgency. This is especially true in heightened situations like fights or escaping from danger where precise button combos mean succeeding or failing.

This is where Heavy Rain stands alone with one of the best features of the game. “Old” games, ones released before and after Heavy Rain, no matter how open had a linear story line. Complete A to get to B, if not try A over and over and over.

Heavy Rain works more like life; try A if you can’t get it then you’ll have to find a different way to B. The story adapts to your screw ups, even when you die. The game will continue if one of the four characters falls into an industrial chipper.

It took me a little while to get used to the idea that failing didn’t mean Game Over.

The controls can be a little like wrestling a bear sometimes, even when just trying to walk in a house, and I had issues with audio glitches holding up game play, but those two things aside Heavy Rain is the new gold standard for story oriented games.

Yes, the graphics are amazing, the interface is very unique and the presentation is done well. But the story is gripping and intense. That even feels like an understatement, glue is gripping, this story has claws that will dig into your face and hold on until you finish.

Sure, it’s just a game, but it is just like a good movie or book, you are immersed. Heavy Rain might not be a long swim, but the water is deep and after you get out you feel soaked and cold for sometime.