superconsumerboy (v.2)

Also watching: Family Guy - "Chick Cancer"

nobody@vox.com(Rik) — Sun, 01 Apr 2007 19:45:46 -0700

While otherwise, the same Family Guy twice on the same night would suck, but watching the [as] broadcast after the Fox one makes it easier to notice the cuts. Why a Howard Hessman/weed joke is inacceptable for Fox, but Chester the Cheetah hoped up on cheese-coke while listening to Rush is okay (BTW: my fav part of this episode, other than Stewie burning Olivia up in the play house).

Family Guy Pubes Hair Clip

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Now watching: The Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie For Theaters, live on [adult swim]

nobody@vox.com(Rik) — Sun, 01 Apr 2007 19:18:43 -0700

Err!

Unfortunately, I don't have the requisite magnifying glass. [adult swim] is yet another practioner of the 'April Fools Day' that the Interwebs love so much. Unlike the other pranks, this one is pretty damn funny. The ATHF movie is actually being shown on TV 2 weeks before the theatrical release, but only as a hella-tiny rectangular frame in the lower left corner. Hella-tiny: like 1 inch in width on my 27" CRT TV. You can kinda see what's going on, although only every few seconds when Meatwad takes up the whole frame - otherwise it's a mess of green, brown, and a whole lotta red.

Oh, and they keep putting those huge ad-things that F/X is in love with, with sound and flame and dancing Meatwads.

Last year I was a wuss and fell asleep before the April 1st adult swim broadcast, but my GF watched it. Ghost in the Shell 2nd Gig with bonus fart noises. See, adult swim, you're actually funny sometimes. Fart jokes and fake premieres and bomb scares (well, you can thank Boston for that one) are funny. Saved by the Bell is not.

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Still not sure about this 'MySpace for Grown-Ups'...

nobody@vox.com(Rik) — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 18:19:35 -0700

I'm not sure how useful this Vox space is going to be. I was finally able to upload my old blog's posts. (Couldn't remember my old Blogger ID). I'm not sure how usable Vox is though. I don't want to have to 'live' entirely within one tool. I use a lot of the same tools as this guy. My new favorite is Tumblr (here's mine: pabstbluerobot). But I 'live' on my MacBook using real apps: NetNewsWire (RSS), Pukka (del.iciou.us), iTunes (sent to Last.FM, MusicMobs, and iLike), and iPhoto (Flickr). I've also tried a few catalog solutions, too, like Delicious Library and the 'Pedia apps by Bruji. If I already spend 10% of my time managing these things, why would I bother re-doing this in Vox?

I guess this blog will be more of an experiment with how to better represent a subdued, organized version of my digital life, while pabstbluerobot will be the stream-of-consciousness version. I have a feeling PBR will be more fun, as it's pretty easy to add things to it; although it is a pain to move a site from NetNewsWire's browser into Safari before running the Tumblr bookmarklet. Tumblr just posted an API, so maybe this'll change soon.

I think maybe Vox would be good for me if I actually had friends to have a 'social network' with. But that's the suck with these things - you can only be friends with me if you're on the same network as me. So if Suzy does Friendster, Bobby does LinkedIn, and I want to be friends with both of em, I have to join and maintain additional profiles. Really suck...

There has been some work on the outside about an abstraction layer over these social networks, allowing people to interact between networks. I'll have to keep up with this.

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The future of music, digital or otherwise...

nobody@vox.com(Rik) — Fri, 31 Oct 2003 14:25:19 -0800

Sometimes I get tired having to listen to dozens of radio stations and songs a day. We live in the future, right? Computers wake us up, make our food, and take us to work on shiny techno rails. Why can't they listen to music for us and give us exactly what we want? Now they can: Eigenradio. The world's radio dial needs only one station.

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It must rule to be 8 years old these days...

nobody@vox.com(Rik) — Fri, 24 Oct 2003 15:53:41 -0700

I remember when I first stole my dad's R/C car. It was a beat-up little Jeep-looking thing with a wire clothes-hanger for an antenna and ate D-size batteries as if they were Tiny Tots (my favorite Wonka-brand candy in my youth). The days of huge R/C cars with big expensive batteries have long been over, as evidenced by the commercials for R/C fantasy stunt cars and even R/C tops!

While I've been interested in the latest R/C toys, I wasn't truly excited until I found this site while trying to find information on the Xbox port of Auto Modellista. Not only do they sell little Bit Char-G/Choro Q mini-R/C cars with Auto Modellista-licensed bodies but they have licensed Mario Kart characters and designs and created a
mini R/C Mario Kart racing game! I've only seen Yoshi and Mario cars, if only they would bring back the racing god that is the original Super Mario Kart Koopa Troopa, he would 0wnz j00 4ll!

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Ok, maybe I was brash in saying there was no reason to get a PS2

nobody@vox.com(Rik) — Fri, 24 Oct 2003 13:16:21 -0700

Exhibit 1: Disgaea (Tactical/Strategy RPG for PS2)
RPGamer review

Exhibit 2: La Pucelle (Tactical/Strategy RPG for PS2)
RPGamer preview
The Magic Box preview

I have got to stop looking at these game sites when I'm broke. Maybe I should just finish Final Fantasy Tactics. Or Tactics Ogre. Or the new GBA versions of those games.

Oh well, I was going to get a PS2 when GT4 came out anyways. I will be very very very pissed when the next-gen systems come out - new hardware is just not needed. It has been proven time and again that the current breed can put out some hella-excellent graphics, even the PS2 (Check the screens for Metal Gear Solid 3, Silent Hill 3, Gran Turismo 4, among others).

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Is it a Street Fighter-clone video game, a parody/critique of Western Action Cinema, ...

nobody@vox.com(Rik) — Wed, 22 Oct 2003 15:32:15 -0700

... or just the best damn zombie-filled, gangster, martial arts movie to come out of Japan ever? Versus is by far the greatest reimagining of the Western mythology I have ever seen. Not that Christianity stuff, the real Western myth: Star Wars. Father versus Son, Dark versus Light, Good versus Evil. The problem is, the conflict itself is evil and dark.

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With paycheck comes need to spend money!

nobody@vox.com(Rik) — Fri, 17 Oct 2003 17:24:22 -0700

Money is not a thing to hold on to. Nobody owns the ocean and likewise I don't own any money. The ocean is controlled by the moon, creating a system of tides high and low. My bank account has it's own tides with 2-week cycles and although my bills aren't as massive as the moon, they have similar effects.

What is this babbling about? I want CDs and I want them now. I want the new OutKast, the new Ludacris, the new Ima Robot, and tons of older albums I just haven't been able to buy: Suede, new Black Box Recorder, new BRMC (even if it sucks, I want it), new Strokes (even if it isn't out yet - I dunno - I want it), Beastie Boys Paul's Boutique (my dubbed cassette version died), and tons tons tons others. Might have to seriously consider a second job, considering the 100+ new videogames coming out this holiday season (of which I want about 10, but they're really really really good games).

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The Games of X-Mas 2003!

nobody@vox.com(Rik) — Wed, 01 Oct 2003 12:50:38 -0700

I'm not entirely thrilled with the games slated to come out next year, but there are still many games coming out this X-mas (or that've been out for awhile now) that I'm interested in. Unfortunately, there aren't many original games on this list, but I think that these sequals and formula games are worth the investment:

First off, I must confess, I am a racing game mark. I love me some virtual motor sports. I can't drive my car for shit, but make a videogame of it and I will rule the school. And now that we're past the year 2000, I can finally play them on-line (no one I play games with now likes racing as much as me, and my racing buddy from high school is on the other side of the country).

Sega GT Online (Xbox): only $20, supports my saves from GT2002, and 12 car online races! Nothing more to say but w00t! And maybe VROOOM!

Project Gotham Racing 2 (Xbox): I really liked Metropolitan Street Racer, or whatever the hell it was called, for the Dreamcast and I didn't buy the Xbox version because they didn't change enough to warrant the $50. But with a new engine, prettier graphics, and a better Kudos system (and Live!), I will probably be getting this.

Gran Turismo 4 (PS2): It's coming out after Xmas, but I will be buying this game, and in order to do so I will be finally buying a PS2 (w/ Network Adapter, and maybe the Hard Drive if it supports it). And because I am a dork and like to spend money I don't have, I will be getting the new Logitech GT Force wheel (but mom... it's like a real car!

Pro Race Driver (Xbox/Live): I already own the non-Live version. I finally started playing it last week and it's wicked good. It plays much different from a car-tuning game, in that the races are longer and much, much faster. It also handles pack racing a bit more realistically - you're all driving pretty much the same car, so the contest is in skill, tuning just helps adjust the handling of the car to your driving style, it won't get you more power. The new edition just adds Live! functionality, but I can't find any info on what Live! is like with it or how much this will cost. I am prepared to get ass reamed. Here is a google cache of a news post that was removed from Codemaster's webpage. I can't tell if this is being released in North America or not.

I was set this post aside and was going to add to it with info about other games coming out, but then I realized that these are just the same games that have been receiving attention from the commercial games sites, so I'll just post my list of notables. Look 'em up at Game Rankings.

Knights of the Old Republic (Xbox)
Viewtiful Joe (GC)
Soul Calibur II (GC)
Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles (GC)
Crimson Skies (Xbox)
Pokemon Ruby (GBA)
Mario Kart: Double Dash (GC)
WarioWare, Inc. (GBA)

The problem with being a SuperConsumerBoy is that your spending habits both excite and depress you.

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Academic Loves Developer, Developer Prefers Big Booty Hoes

nobody@vox.com(Rik) — Tue, 30 Sep 2003 16:31:52 -0700

Dunno why I've never run across the IGDA's Culture Clash column. This month: Why game developers should embrace the growning interest in gaming by academia. Near the middle of the column, writer Matthew Sakey lists recent papers written about gaming from a scholarly perspective. (found via GameCritics.com).

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