new computer

well after struggling a good long time, I finally, finally got my new computer.

it's actually a smaller tower, a midsized atx tower, but it looks like it'll do everything iwant.

it doesn't have the same connections for drives like my old computer so it looks like i can't bring my existing dvd drive and hard drives over to the new computer, it sucks but I'll figure something out.

 

anyway, i've been drinking like mad and decided to try out windows live writer. here it fucking is.

Alright so

Ok so, I think I've become addicted to Xbox 360, it's becoming an obsession for me. When can I play again? I want to play now, don't want to sleep/eat/shower want to play xbox.


Anyway, I have pretty good willpower and have been able to supress this, but I still get the urge to constantly play it. I don't know what's wrong with me.

It's just a video game system.

although, with movies, being able to talk with friends, music, and more.. I..
whatever, it's still just a box.

New Additions (Recent Losses)

Well Hey everybody,

Now's the time I talk to you about my week in review.

Well, I knew I was going to get a bonus come today (yes!) of somewhere around $500 (yessir!), and I also discovered that because of some wonderful sales by a team completely unrealated to me, at all, I got another $75 dollar bonus on top of that.

It's fantastic!

So I decided I could pay off some of my bills and maybe, just maybe pickup an Xbox 360.
Especially since this week they had their prices drop down to $300 and there's a sale that you get a $25 dollar giftcard with the purchase of a new system.

Well, I thought about it long and hard, and discovered that my credit limit had been increased by over $1,500! so I decided 'you know what, screw it!' and I bought myself an Xbox 360 (going to pay off my credit card later today). It's fantastic!
I absoltuely love it. Streaming content from my PC to my Xbox is great (although I have so much content it sometimes takes a while to load..). I have three actual games for it;
Crackdown - a GTA style shooter where you're a cop trying to clean up the streets
Gears of War - a thirdperson shooter, fighting demons or aliens, or something I don't really know, I can't get past the fact that this game is so FREAKING HARD. I play most games on the normal, or medium settings, for my first go through, and this game is insanely hard. I can play other games just fine on the medium setting, but this game, is nuts!
Halo 3 - Originally, I wasn't going to get this game, I was just going to get Crackdown and Gears of War. I played Halo 3 before, and it didn't really seem like anything special to me. But my room mate said I should probably get it, and I do like Halo 1 (I never got to finish Halo 2, thanks to original xbox drive failure), so I figured since it has achievements, it's probably the better one to get. I don't know why, but achievements drive me nuts. it just makes a game more fun. Look at Geometry Wars, great game, right? well on PC there are no achievements. I find myself getting bored competing with my own scores and not having any kind of goals to make it's just unchallenging. But so far, I've actually been enjoying it. I'm coming up to the part now where you go inside a Flood ship, and there's a part like this in every game, a part where my instincts clash with what you have to do in the game. It wants you to enter the ship, and I don't want to go in there, it's probably filled with the flood, I freaking hate the flood. don't go in there, stay the hell away from the goddamn flood. I had issues like this with Half-life 2, entering Ravenholm, I guess it's just a part of the experience, I mean, what fun would the game be if you played it safe the whole way through? It'd be boring. I don't know, maybe I'm just looking for some kind of monster that isn't going to completely freak me out. I like opponents that aren't zombies; aliens, fine, humans, fine, whatever, but zombies.. let's get the hell outta there.

anyway, I am really enjoying all three games, Crackdown is just.. it's like a toy, it's so much fun, you can play with it for hours. I never get bored of jumping around the city, shooting up gang members, and increasing my stats. And Gears of War is hard, but something about it is still fun.. I don't know what it is.

I also picked up some arcade titles,
Geometry Wars - I loved this for PC, with achievements and leaderboards, I have a whole new reason to play.
Poker Smash - It's tetris attack on drugs, what can I say? I still enjoy it. I enjoy every Tetris Attack (panel de pon). I have it on Gameboy Advanced, Nintendo DS, Pokemon Puzzle League on Wii, and now I have Poker Smash on 360.. It's fantastic.
Doom - Oh my god, I knew this was on here, but I didn't know how great it was. I played Doom before on PC and most of the time I was just lost and confused. Something about this version of it, makes it so much more coherent. Perhaps it's the higher resolution, but to me this is the most approachable version of the game. It reminds me sort of, of Marathon on PC (the only version I've played).
Undertow - I kind of don't like this game so much. it was free to me (yeah, i had an xbox live acct back when they were giving it out, and i downloaded it on a friends 360) and I haven't played it much. It's a neat premise and the graphics are great I'm just kind of.. meh.. not so interested.

And then I have the usual free games that every one has access to,
yaris, hexic, and aegis wing.

I think there are more free games, but I forget. I'm at work now so I can't say what.
I also purchased an Episode of South Park "Over Logging On." it is one of my favorite South Park Episodes, probably because I work in Tech Support, and can actually make this happen.

Anyway, all in all, my Xbox 360 experience has been absolutely Fantastic! sure, I had to wait a few years so I could have other people wade through the absolute shit for me, but once again, the conservative, sandwich-heavy portfolio pays off for the hungry investor.

Well, this blog was titled New Additions (Recent Losses) for a reason, so let me tell you about the other portion.

Tuesday evening, I came home, in hopes to play perhaps some Garrys Mod and Poker Smash with my Buddy Adam.
I played some Poker Smash with him, while waiting for my computer to compress some files so I could send them to Adam so he could have those files. After Compressing them, I went to send them to him in an Email.
And then my computer crashed.
It did the little window saying "this computer will shut down in 00:05:00" bit, and for fun, I pulled the clock back to 2k5 and the number exploded. Anyway, I went ahead and shut the computer down, and then when I went to turn it back on, I was asked if I wanted to put it in safe mode. I chose to use my most recent settings that worked, and... it shut down.
I went to turn it on again, and it got to the Windows loading screen before shutting down.
I turned it on again, and it didn't POST.
For those of you who don't know, POST stands for Power On Self Test. If it passes this test, your computer will normally beep. There have been some computers out there that have been released without this beep, so don't worry if yours doesn't have one and still works, it's probably fine. My computer is supposed to beep though, and it wasn't beeping. It wasn't passing the Power On Self Test.

So I freaked out, I stopped playing Poker Smash, threw my computer on the chop block and started taking parts out. First I started with the Video card.. no difference, I put it back in.
then I tried each stick of ram individually.

One of my 1 gig corsair pieces of ram was dead.

it even had the heatsinks!

So I decided there and then, to buy a new computer.
Earlier in the day I had been browsing the Dell Website, I discovered they had an awesome deal, a Quadcore, 3gig ram, 500gig hdd, monster of a machine for only $499.
Now, with my employee discount, I was able to get it for ten dollars less than the sticker price. However with my additions and extras, it cost all together over $800 after shipping and taxes.

But I'm really looking forward to getting it. I'm going to slap my Radeon 2600 HD in there and go to town.

Anyway, I have done a lot of shopping this week and I plan on not doing a lot of shopping for a while.

Xbox 360, ripping off the Wii?

Yep, not only are they allowing the creation of Avatars (see Miis), but they're FORCING you to switch from the blade style dashboard to one focused on Channels (see Wii Channels). Also it is rumored there will be a web browser..

Now I can understand implementing Avatars, I mean, when someone creates a new device that is well received by the community, it is expected that others would have to fall in line. I mean, Internet play was something the original Xbox capitalized on, and now every system has the ability to play online. Even handheld devices!
So really, I think Avatars are here to stay.. it makes it a little easier for developers too, because they don't have to create 50 generic characters, just let the customers Avatars or Miis fill up the generic spots.

but a channel system? that's crazy. I like the blade style, it's unique, and it's convienent. Instead of having to press a button to get to the place you want to be, just use the stick, left or right!

The Wii Channel system is a little.. uh.. hands on? I mean, you have to organize your own 'features' as it is, with the channels. Another thing I really like about the Blades, is that it's really a lot more colorful than what they're advertising, also when compared to the PS3 XMB and the Wii Channel layout, the Blade system is severely more colorful.


now I know what you're thinking when you look at that screen shot, you're like 'well it's not completely uncolorful, there's quite a bit of color there.'

now if you look at what the original blade style them looked like, you'll agree there is significantly less color.
I don't know about you folks, but I know that there was a great deal of originality in the original setup, and now what are we reduced to? I know Microsoft is king of ripping people off, but.. they were doing so well with what they had..

Anyway, to wrap this up, I'm really angry that this is a forced update. I really wish that we could keep the blade system if we so chose.

Vindows Wista

hey everybody
couple of months ago i posted about how windows vista isn't horrible
it's just mediocre.

anyway, i figured i'd update you all on my story

so i went to my buddy's house and we decided to play garrys mod, lucky me my raptop can play garrys mod so we went ahead and started playing

and then anything like fire, or anything involving particles, crashed my game (laptop fine, os fine, just garrys closes). so I decided that night that I would put Xindows WP on it.

"Why would you do that?" you may be asking.
Well the reason why my game was crashing was because my computer uses shared memory for the video card. And with two gigabytes of ram, you think that'd be pretty good, right?
well it was fairly good, but not good enough for me.
so I decided if I put windows xp on it, it would get rid of some of the overhead (read: memory guzzling) from Vista (it's just that windows wants to USE the hardware new computers have.. I would be elated if they realized that the reason we update hardware isn't because of the operating system but because of OTHER programs), and then my games would run fine.

and then I hit a couple of snags.
first, Toshiba didn't relase XP drivers for my laptop. So thanks to the internet I got the correct drivers.
Notebook Review Forums

But if you follow the link, you can tell that it was quite a journey.
Anyway, I finally got all the drivers for the machine to discover that
intel hasn't found a resolution for this problem.

so anyway, i was a determined sob. I want to play garrys mod and I want it to farking work on my goddamn laptop.

anyway, I decided I'd force the app into windowed mode and it works.
Why does it work? I have no fucking clue.

But for those of you out there with an intel 945 or other crappy onboard video card, trying to play a source game with the orange bawks engine, force it into windowed mode.
here's the code to put in the options
-startwindowed / -sw / -windowed / -window / -win use the Window display mode (game appears as a window on the desktop)


and now it works fantastically.
well here's to you system, I completely beat you this time.
Ian 500 x Internet infinity

Wall-E (spoilers)

welp, i read an article and it got me started

it seems the film has many 'hidden messages' within it.

that fat people are lazy, and it's undesirable to be one (which really
isn't bad)..
but some critics and fat people apparently are really angry

The Post's Lou Lumenick weighs in, though he's careful to point out
he's a fan of the film:

"Many of the early early reviews, including mine, have noted this may
offend Disney's target audience... it turns out that large people have
been blogging angrily about "Wall-E'' since at least November. "Will
general audiences (which form the bulk of Pixar's demographic), upon
seeing a fat blob 'drinking liquified food from Big-Gulp-esque cups,
and forever surfing (and chatting) on chair-mounted video screens'
think 'Oh, wow, so that's what gravity does to humans!' or 'Wow, so
that's what the obesity epidemic will do to humans!' says a post at
The F Word. Gripes a writer at Fatshionista: "this is so INCREDIBLY
disappointing. I feel personally betrayed by Pixar right now.''


Now, I really liked the film myself, but I did also see these messages
and I think it's a good message to send to kids. The movie didn't
really feel like a propaganda ad for telling people to stay healthy
(you know, fit..) but the message was fairly clear that humanity in
that movie, turned into a bunch of web surfing/phone talking/lazy ass
blobs who'd rather focus on the screen infront of them instead of
notice the world around them.

what they could possibly be talking about, I have no clue. How they
have kids, it's even more questionable.
But it's a movie, and I'm probably looking too much into it at that point.

But really, I think to be over weight, with your eyes glued to the
screen like that, is absolutely horrid. Whether or not you're
overweight, it's not a good idea to just get glued to a screen like
that for hours. I know I work infront of a computer screen, and have
the television on at home, but..

many times at work, i do a great deal of troubleshooting with my eyes
closed and my head rolled back. It is relaxing and helps me focus,
also reduces eye strain. I find that I do a lot less online at home as
well, maybe I'll play a few games for a short amount of time, but
still i find myself usually going out, talking to people, or taking
care of chores.

but anyway, i don't have to defend myself, i was just illustrating how
what I believe is reflected in my day to day life, and what
relationship that has to this film.



Now there's also a great load of people who consider Wall-E to be a
propaganda film for left-wing ideals.
Noting how in the future the earth is covered in garbage and the
pollution made the earth so toxic they couldn't come back for 700
years.

But many are quick to point out, that this is a product of the type of
society they had, which is fairly different from the one we have..

Quote: Patrick J. Ford of The American Conservative
"In the film, it becomes clear that mass consumerism is not just the
product of big business, but of big business wedded with big
government. In fact, the two are indistinguishable in WALL-E's future.
The government unilaterally provided its citizens with everything they
needed, and this lack of variety led to Earth's downfall."


Which is quite true, BNL was the government of the whole freakin' world.
And it appears as if in the film, people were able to receive services
and products, without having to pay. It seems as if they abandoned a
monetary system all together. Which makes sense.. I always thought a
monetary system was silly, what do I want a bunch of green papers for?

Anyway, I think too, that it is important to keep away from this type
of society, it seems that the most potentially blissful types of
government, are also the most potentially evil by nature.

Human beings have a greed for power,
they have to have the newest, the best, the most..
It's derivative from lust.

Until these emotions no longer can rule us, we these types of
governments are absolutely out of reach, for actual blissful
potential.
At the same time, we need them all. It's what makes us human. The
ability to err.

Anger is just as Necessary as love, without Anger, what can we use to
define Kindness? Indifference?
Without hate, what can we use to define love?
Without greed what can we use to define generosity?
without lust what can we use to define modesty?
etc, etc..

It seems all these emotions are necessary in the world, in life, in all things.
Should we deny our need for these things like one asks to be excused
for passing gas?
Perhaps..

Anyway, back to the topic on hand..

There are many people who also view Wall-E as a pro-environment propaganda ad.
But really, I mean, Human beings do have to live here, and do have to
make some kind of impact (it's the nature of the beast), but for
anyone to either not be pro-environment, it's fairly much
anti-environment.. there is no real indifference in this situation..

Anyway, it is important to consider your surrondings and do your best
to live in harmony with it, but I don't really think this film is a
dig at our current situation. Yes, there are a lot of landfills, etc,
but that's all just imaginary stuff that was filled in my head in
school. I don't know of any actual landfills, except for one here in
Arizona.. but that's just one. There probably are many, but I can't
really speak from experience on that, because I don't have any other
than here. I don't know names or locations!

anyway, back on topic..

This model implies that society as a whole would have given up on
giving a rats ass about trash and etc.. which we all knows is very
much impossible. Will it ever turn into a completely brown toxic
world? I don't believe so, I believe a great deal of us will probably
move to another planet, because it might get a little gray, but if
that's true, it allows for the Earth to be rejuvinated with the less
people there..

And that's a huge if, there are a million other things that could
happen, this model is more of like, if we're lucky..

A meteor could hit us, destroying the entire planet, a meteor could
hit the sun, causing it to super nova, the earth could collide into
the sun, a plague could ravage us all, zombie apocalypse, robot
apocalypse, the biblical apocalypse..

I mean, there are a lot of different possibilities, for them to say
'lol this is the most likely outcome' is fairly ignorant. Shit is
going to happen. The Earth will be barraged by meteors, have massive
earth quakes, and thus tsunamis, erupting volcanoes, hurricanes,
tornados, and not to mention the constant threat of nuclear war.

We should be so lucky to end up fat blobs rediscovering culture on a
space ship millions of miles away from earth.

The best thing I thought about the movie though, is that it, unlike
many other kids movies, does not promote an unhealthy image of women.
Most Disney films, and Pixar films even, depict these scrawnly little
girls who most the time are helpless.

Even though in reality the love story between Wall-E and Eve is
between two genderless robots, they are given voices and defined by
common characteristics of each gender. I think a girl who looks up to
Eve would probably be fairly fantastic in todays world, she's a strong
character, yet feeling, loving. It is a good role model.

Anyway, I just had a lot of thoughts on the movie.. figured I'd share 'em

wark story

the following is a true story
names have been changed to protect the guilty

i had this customer, who was disabled for nonpayment. so
her phone could only call the solutions center. and the guy who sat
next to me (frank) got her first and told her to talk to the local
office. but of course she can't so she called back and i got her. so i
went to transfer her to the customer care center and i got Sally..
apparently she's a bitch.

anyway, frank was still in the account and since only one person
could be in an account at a time, sally asked me to get out of it. i
told her i wasn't in it, so i looked at frank and then sally said
'well somebody is.' and then i told frank to get out of it, and he
did, so i said to her 'ok my neighbor freed up the account' and then
she said 'it's open?' to which I replied 'yes sir, i mean, ma'am.' and
she freaked out and was all 'you have an issue. what is your name?'
and i told her.

i told my supervisor about this exchange, but no complaint was lodged.
if anything i should be complaining about her, but i said nah forget
it yo holmes to bel air, i pulled up to a house around seven or eight
and i yelled to the cabbie yo holmes smell ya later, i looked at my
kingdom i was finally there, to sit on my throne as the fresh prince
of bel air.

Movie Tiem Naow PLX?!

Guillermo Del Toro
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0903624/

if you don't know who he is, he directed Pans Labyrinth and the recently released Hellboy movie..

he's known for having some really cool looking creatures and special effects, as well as some fairly scary movies..

I think it's fairly interesting that they're going to make The Hobbit, I really enjoyed that book over the others, but to be honest, I'm getting tired of these series remakes. That's all I ever hear or see anymore. "Lets remake chrono trigger!" or "lets create a series based off a comic book!" or "lets remake these movies!" or "lets create a sequel to a series that's really old!" or "lets update the graphics in X movie!"

all of these ideas lack creativity and originality.
Of course, it doesn't mean that I don't like some of those movies, Spiderman and Batman are some great examples of hollywood cashing in on ideas thought up years ago. And look at me, I'm even going to see this Hellboy movie (mostly because Guillermo Del Toro is a crazy bastard!)

Video Game Industry, Hollywood, all of it is just the same old song with some different words, that has the same meaning.

If movies are art, then clearly so are video games!
Anyway, I've read a couple of different reviews for hellboy 2 and they all said it was ok, not the best, but just a regular action flick.
apparently i'm one of the few people who are going to see it for the monster effects..

no posting

sorry for the lack of posts
life has been really crazy

because there are people who would potentially be offended by what has happened/been happening, i am not going to discuss it here, but will discuss future items as necessary.

expect more posts.