quietprofanity

So most of my apartment is cleared out. I have to go back for one more trip, but I'm hoping I can clear up some other things along the way, so that'll be cool.

I also FINALLY got around to playing that Watchmen video game for the cell phone because I'm that behind. Man, that had some bad dialogue. And I had to defeat the final boss (some guy with a bionic arm) twice because the game froze the first time and didn't show me the ending. And bionic arm guy was actually HARD. (Also hate the quicktime events) But ... eh, it was a nice distraction in between chores.

I'm also glad I have my own computer back, anyway. Can't use the Internet on it, but writing in notebooks really sucks so it'll be nice to have my own word program again.

So I bought some RAM from Circuit City yesterday. I've owned my compy for SIX YEARS and I've never tried installing anything new on it (although I did to my family computer). I got all ready to take off the cover with a screwdriver when I saw no screws keeping the cover on.

"Curious ..." I thought. Then I kept looking around and investigating. I found a sort of a spring mechanism on both the top and the bottom of the computer. I pushed them at the same time and viola! Computer opened like a book.

SHEESH! If I knew it was that easy, I would have just started opening my computer for fun.

Anyway, after lightly dusting off the two pounds of bunnies with a piece of tissue, (Why do I live so far away from a place where I could just run out and get canned air?) and fiddling around I installed the new 512 MB of RAM. Good-bye horrible start-up times, yay! I can use the proper RiffTrax player, yay! I can play PsychoNau ... oh, wait, video card isn't l33t enough. Woe.

I'm wondering if I want to get a new video card and go for the Franken-computer route. I'm really not ready to buy a new computer yet. (Fuck "ending is better than mending." Mending can be tons of fun.) Hmm ... I'll give myself a month to make this huge decision. If I want to play video games I can always crack open the Grand Theft Auto: Vice City I managed to get for free and the Katamari Damacy and Tomb Raider: Legend I got for budget price. Or I could download a Yahtzee Croshaw game. Or I could scrounge up my old American McGee's Alice that I never finished. The possibilities are endless!

Well, I did it. After about two months and with an un-stellar finishing time of over eight hours, I beat Silent Hill 3. Here are my thoughts on it.

( Heather, Heather ... Divorced with two kids of her own )

Oh, and yeah, I watched the two alternate endings on YouTube. :-P

* 47nite introduced me to the comedic awesome of Yahtzee Croshaw and I've been having a great time ever since. His latest review, on Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles, a game which I haven't played but I've watched others play the original games (and I also actually beat Resident Evil 2 myself -- I think it was one of the first games I beat) and when he started going on about the story and dialogue of the RE games I laughed so hard I had to watch it again because I missed half of the jokes. It's true. It's all true ... but he's funny enough I enjoy watching/listening to a review even when I haven't played it.

I also checked out his Web site ... didn't like his written reviews as much (although as a recent member of the "Yes, I actually read ALL of Anne Rice's Sleeping Beauty Chronicles" guild I salute him). But I downloaded his 5 Days a Stranger game. Only a day in but it managed to actually scare me even with the primitive graphics. I'll be playing more soon ... maybe tomorrow night.

* J.R. Fettinger's life seems to be stable yet again and so Spidey Kicks Butt is now updating again on a consistent basis, w00t! I'm still pissed over OMD, but at least he makes stuff fun.

* The quality of Homestar Runner sometimes seems to vacillate between "kind of all right" to "pretty good" these days. But I do miss consistent "fucking awesome." Luckily, fucking awesome came back this week. Also, thank you last year's email for making fun of that stupid "Oranjella and Lemonjella" urban legend. (Although I remember them being an actual names on that TV show Detention - whatever.)

* Um ... running out of entries on this journal theme. I did, however, get rid of a book I had on Bookmooch for over a year -- something I really didn't like and wanted to get rid of so I'm happy about it. :-D Shortpacked! has also been pretty amusing, so long as I don't expect too much of it.

One person I regularly read who HAS been seriously disappointing me is James Berardinelli. He's started up ReelThoughts and reviewing older movies on a consistent basis, which is bad. But his Sweeney Todd review where he stated that musical "Was far from Sondheim's best work" and then later said, "Well, I haven't actually listened to the original cast recording or seen it was really, really stupid. Ditto on saying "If Katie Holmes is going to act this crappily, she should concentrate on staying home and taking care of Suri." [sigh] Even giving him the benefit of the doubt that he was judging her acting ability with wanting to make a topical reference and not trying to be sexist doesn't excuse that ... well, it kind of is. Really.

* Speaking of dear Katie, or rather her crazy husband, the wank communities have been finding some awesome stuff lately, especially regarding this Web War with Scientology. Watching Message to Scientology while cyberweasel was visiting was kind of a surreal feeling. I felt like I was in one of those movies where the hacker is making his grand announcement to the Internet and to illustrate that, the director cuts to scenes of half-dressed people in messy apartments staring in awe at the screen.

Also, the weirdest thing happened when we were watching The Un-Funny Truth About Scientology (with the creepy music turned down). I actually was watching and for no reason lost my equilibrium and felt like the room was spinning. Very creepy.

In less scary news, Check out this returned vintage wank. Glad I never got into The Doors.

In my day if we wanted to kill a woman we'd just turn into giant skeletal hands and SQUEEZE!

I can't believe I watched all that. Especially into when they got all 3-D ... that doesn't look as fun. Of course, I spent most of my experience with Mortal Kombat watching others play and not actually playing myself. I think when I actually got to play MK3 myself I went, "Bah! Too hard!" and moved on. (Although I could do Mileena's moves, because they usually consisted of "hold down key for two seconds and throw your sais." That only got me past three people, though.)

But yeah ... looking back I remember the conventional wisdom, even among some of the gamers who wrote into those magazines seemed to be that the fatalities were horrific and nausea inducing (although somehow also cool). Now ... they just look ridiculous ... a little gross, especially with the detailed intestines, but mostly ridiculous. And I think around MK3 they were deliberately trying to make them look ridiculous.

And I just wonder if why all these people have such godlike powers that they can morph into animals or grow into giants why did they wait to do these moves until their opponent was useless. I mean, that's just kind of obnoxious.

This seems like a good opportunity to say that I haven't played my Nintendo DS since I got decently far into Cooking Mama and then promptly got real world guilt. ("I could be ACTUALLY COOKING." -- And no, Phoenix Wright does not make me want to be a lawyer and Sonic Rush doesn't actually make me want to turn into a little ball and collect rings. Knock it off. :-P) I haven't played it much since.

BUT -- I am happy that I got the assignment to cover the new video game store in town. I'm the one who would appreciate it the most out of everyone in the office.

( More and unrelated stuff about Charles Dickens and poetry down here )