Conduct unbecoming

Of a blogger.

It's been a while...

In my defense, I've been busy.

Okay, that's a lie. I'm just a lazy piece of shit.

So I sit here twiddling my thumbs, waiting for the Sirius website to actually start working (an act which is a deep betrayal, 'cause, you know... XM 4 Life) and letting iTunes work its magic (playing right now: "Fire" by Hendrix, the only proper response to which is "FUCK yeah").

Anyway. I'm laying siege to the Sirius site because my friend and I have decided to split the cost of a receiver for a third friend for XMas, and since he's up to his eyeballs in finals, ordering falls to me.

It's cool, though. Because I have got this XMas shit nailed down. Seriously. I am so intensely organized this year, you have no idea. Lists in my PDA. Segregated funds at ING. Fucking spreadsheets. I'd say I'm a good 80% done with my shopping. Please note: This is how it's done. Truly, I am a machine.

Other stuff going on... but that will wait until later.

Less than a week

Since my last post. Maybe we're picking up a bit of steam, here.

So, I think pretty much everything of interest has premiered now, so how about we put on London Calling and do a day-by-day rundown? Yes. Yes, I think that's what we'll do.

Sunday: The choice between cartoons and football is one no man should have to make. Fortunately it's not a choice I'm confronted with for the month of October, while FOX takes a break from its normal programming to air the MLB playoffs. Generally, however, I watch the cartoons and flick back to football at the commercials. I was a bit underwhelmed by the first few episodes of Simpsons, Family Guy, and American Dad, but they all had their moments.

Monday:
Heroes - they made some questionable stylistic decisions in the pilot (the opening "crawl" really bugged me for some reason - I think static text would've worked better), and some of the characters' stories are more interesting than others, not to mention the shit that makes absolutely no sense whatsoever, such as the Indian professor never having read Origin of the Species, but generally I think this could work. Plus, I <3 Greg Grunberg.

Studio 60 - I don't know. It's good enough, I suppose, but I can't help but get the sense that Sorkin's arrogance and didacticism is really overwhelming the scripts at certain points, not to mention the fact that Sorkin appears to vastly overestimate the importance of the behind-the-scenes wrangling to the general public (though I suppose that ties into the arrogance aspect). In any event, it might be wise not to get too attached to this one.

Tuesday:
Gilmore Girls - crash and burn. The trademark wit of the previous seasons is pretty much gone. They're just going through the motions at this point. Time to pull the plug.

Friday Night Lights - beyond excellent, even though the football game itself was a bit predictable. Unfortunately, I'm going to try not to get too invested in this one, too.

Standoff - adequate and fun. Have loved Ron Livingston since Office Space (I'm one of the few who saw it in its original theatrical release, as opposed to the 4,304,157 times it's aired on Comedy Central since). A procedural that doesn't take itself too seriously (*cough* L&O). Again, gone for October, but it probably won't last.

Veronica Mars - Despite the occasional plotting problem, there are few shows on TV that are better. Witty dialogue + Kristen Bell's charisma = total winner. Seriously, I totally want to have 10,000 of Kristen Bell's babies.

Wednesday:
Lost/The Nine - Fuck me, that's two hours of fantastic TV. I know debates are raging as to whether Lost has "lost its way" - I'm still totally engaged (though not to the same level as those who pour over every frame for clues to unlock the mystery). The pilot of The Nine was incredibly engrossing - similar enough to Lost to make it a good companion series, but different enough so that it doesn't feel like a carbon copy (besides the obvious departure in terms of setting, the main difference is that the main characters know what happened, while we're kept in the dark - on Lost, we find things out as the characters do). Plus, I've had a huge crush on Kim Raver since she came on 24 a couple of seasons ago.

Thursday:
The Office - it's been somewhat uneven so far this season - it feels like everyone's overacting a bit. Still, it's had its moments, and the scripts have lost little of their trademark deadpan wit. And Jim sending the "gaydar" to Dwight had me in tears.

Grey's Anatomy - solid straight through. Robbed at the Emmys.

Friday:
Battlestar Galactica - they were a bit heavy-handed with the Iraq war/insurgency parallels, but this show is still tough to beat quality-wise. Give Katee Sackhoff an Emmy right fucking now, please. It's a shame more people aren't watching this - the general concensus is that their tiny little brains can't get past the name.

Saturday:
Who gives a fuck?

Already DOA, as far as I'm concerned: Vanished, Six Degrees, and Justice. Justice was okay, I guess, but seemed constrained by its formula. Six Degrees lost me in the first half-hour. Another show about how magical NYC is? Fuck that, I say. New York is a goddamn toilet. Vanished was a big yawn. Didn't really care about any of the characters, and it would appear that a lot of people agree with my earlier assessment that it's a 24/Da Vinci code mash-up.

So there's your fall TV. If I haven't mentioned it, I haven't watched it, which is to say it's not worth watching. That's right, Project Runway fans, I said it. Come get me! :-P

I feel like I've been watching too much TV - now that I look at all of this, I know I have been. I hate the idea of hoping that some of these will get cancelled (even the ones that are utter shit), but it will really take some pressure off.

Okay, more later.

I'm a neglectful SOB, I know.

I vow to turn over a new leaf and update the blog regularly, and look. More than 2 weeks go by with nary an entry. I'm a loathsome brute, I know.

Work is... work. While it's cool to be working in the video game industry, I'm not sure they know what they want to do with me yet. So I've just been getting random assignments, which I complete quickly and to my boss' satisfaction. We're holding a press event in Las Vegas this week to announce a new game, but unfortunately I didn't get to go.

Other stuff: I've been watching a shit-load of football, and a lot of the new fall shows (which will get their own separate entry soon). Gaming, naturally - that should also probably get its own entry, just because we're getting into the thick of it right now and there is a whole lot to talk about, especially post TGS and X06.

Last Saturday my family was in town for the National Book Festival. My mom was with her book club, so I traipsed around the Mall for several hours with my dad and sister. It was fairly boring, as there weren't really any authors I was interested in hearing (my dad wanted to hear Kay Bailey Hutchinson, but started wandering off after about 5 minutes). We hoofed down to the WWII Memorial, which neither of them had seen yet (I'd been there a few years ago when it first opened). Then back to the Book Festival for more wandering, then down Pennsylvania Avenue to see the White House (both sides, North Portico and Truman Balcony, which doesn't sound that bad until you actually walk it, especially after you've already been walking nonstop for several hours), then back to Bethesda for a late lunch/early dinner. We finished in time to bid them adieu before I caught a showing of Science of Sleep.

Again, that should be its own entry. But to sum up - it's good. Really good. Go see it.

But speaking of sleep... off I go.

I know it's been awhile, but I've been away.

Okay, not really.

But it was pointed out to me that I've been neglecting this here blog (Hi, Anna!), so I thought I should post.

So, the new job. It's going well. Not sure I've really won over anyone in the development area, but my immediate supervisors seem to like what I've been doing. Ironically, since I started I haven't laid hands on a single controller while at work, though I did discover that employees get a significant discount on the company's releases ($10 for regular, $15 for collector's editions). The food in the cafeteria is pretty good, too.

While I haven't gotten to play at work, I have been doing a bunch at home. Most recent purchases include Okami for the PS2, which is utterly gorgeous, and Advance Wars for the DS. I ran through a quick estimate in Excel and arrived at the conclusion that I'm going to need roughly $14,000 to buy all the releases I'm interested in this fall. It's a good thing I'm getting paid more now, I guess.

Okay, I'm just back from the bar and I'm slightly tipsy and I ate way too much and can't think to write anything witty here so I'll post more later.

Cleaning up

So. One day left after today. I've already checked out.

Today is also the last day I will have to wear a tie for who knows how long. That in itself is cause for celebration.

I have been slowly cleaning up. My desk has never before been this crap-free. I still have a little more to do, but mostly things are in order, and I've already taken all my personal stuff home.

This morning I backed up a bunch of files onto CD - now I'm using a file shredding utility to make sure they're unrecoverable from my hard drive. I just might run a defrag after this...

I highly anticipate doing a whole lot of nothing tomorrow. Not that that's different from most days, of course.

My goodbye lunch is set for a nearby restaurant at 11:30 tomorrow. I've already gotten a going-away gift - an artificial knee. Don't ask.

The allergies were really bad yesterday, and I could barely breathe this morning. I took one of those Claritin dissolving tabs, which seems to be working pretty well. The coughing has been greatly reduced this morning, at least. I really want the symptoms to be gone for my first day.

Yeah... I'm bored. Maybe I'll write more after lunch.

Back on the sauce

If you have read half of one entry on this blog that I'm something of a pop-culture junkie. Movies, games, magazines, books - I eat that shit up.

So I'm always really excited in the fall, with the start of the new TV season. It's like having Christmas a few months early: what new joy awaits inside the glowing box?

Last night Fox got the party started early. I know a lot of people love it, but I don't really give a shit about Prison Break. In fact, anything involving prisons kind of freaks me out a little, and gives me nightmares about being somebody's bitch. So I tend to steer clear of such things.

I did, however, check out Vanished. My verdict: meh. It could be interesting, I suppose, but so far this falls squarely into the category of "trying too hard". It felt like they were attempting to set up way too much in that first hour - it didn't feel organic, as it does in the best examples of the serialized drama, such as Lost. The acting was generally mediocre and the transitions between scenes got on my nerves a bit.

From what I've heard about the rest of the season, they're aiming to position the show as something of a 24-DaVinci Code hybrid, a mash-up I'm still trying to gauge my enthusiasm for, especially considering how disappointed I was with the last season of 24. I'm going to give this one another couple of weeks to grab me before I give it up in favor of Monday Night Football.

Life imitates art!

The Quote of the Day(tm):

"That to me is very scary," herpetological association representative Tom Whiting said. "I would hate to be watching a movie about snakes and have a rattlesnake bite me."

Because in any other circumstances he'd be okay with it, I guess.

When I hear "Hitler", I automatically think "curry".

I don't know what to make of this.

Who thought this would be a good idea?

Now, even though I'm fairly liberal, I really don't like being overly politically correct; I am not going to censor myself simply because some people might be offended, especially where religion is concerned. I was, for example, 100% behind the idea of U.S. newspapers reprinting the Mohammed cartoons, and think every religion should be satirized in a similar manner. When it comes to this, there should truly be no sacred cows.

However, a man who was one of the most notorious mass-murderers of the last century is not someone to be idolized, or used to market a product, even ironically. Even disregarding the horror of the Holocaust (which is tough to do, I know), Hitler's megalomania was responsible for millions of deaths and untold suffering - is that really an association you want people to draw when they think of your restaurant?

Weekend: movies, games, and persistent coughing

This fucking cough won't go away. So I have been forced to break out the big guns. I hope this will alleviate the post-nasal drip or whatever the hell it is. I want this to be over by the time I start the new job.

Movies.

SOAP: In a word, excellent. It was everything I hoped for, and more. Saw it on Friday night with a rowdy (though thankfully not obnoxiously so) crowd in a pretty full theatre. Sam Jackson rules, completely and absolutely. It's too bad all the internet buzz didn't translate into BO.

The "worst" thing about the movie is that when people ask me about it, there really isn't much to say other than "It's about snakes. On a plane." Therein lies the genius of the title - it's truth in advertising at its most pure. Now if we could only get Radiohead to collectively re-name their last three albums "The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle", we'd really have something.

I decided against Accepted - if I really feel the urge to see it... well, that's what Netflix is for, ja?
I went to see The Illusionist instead. And it was pretty fantastic. Edward Norton didn't bug as much as usual, and I thought the beard suited him (it almost made me want to grow one myself). And I was rather shocked to learn that Jessica Biel can actually sorta-kinda act. And now I'm filled with the urge to jet off to Vienna, or at least Prague (where the movie was shot).

So, two movies, and thumbs up for both.

I also finally got around to watching Akira, which was extremely well-done as far as anime goes. I know a lot of people love anime (some way too much) - I'm generally not one of them. I know it's potentially damaging to my nerd-cred, but anime has just never gotten its hooks into me; I think a big part of that is due to the fact that most anime makes no sense whatsoever. Akira does, to a certain extent, and in any event is beautifully executed. I can see why it's so highly regarded.

Looking ahead, there is a shit-ton of movies coming out this fall I can't wait to see (most of them are smaller, indie-type pictures). This weekend I might go see Invincible, pending the reviews; I love a good football movie (though perhaps not enough to see anything starring "The Rock"), but I'm worried that since it's a Walt Disney movie, I might choke to death on schmaltz. Well, if I don't go see it, I'm not too worried, as there is plenty of football, both real and fictional, to slake my thirst.

And with that brilliantly constructed segue, let's talk Madden. It's the big gaming story this week, as it inevitably is every August. People take off work on the day of release to play. It is akin to religion for some. Despite my love of both football and games, I'm not one of them. My allegiances lie elsewhere.

Madden is the source of no small amount of controversy. First, the argument that gets repeated every year is that EA should stop producing the game on an annual basis; rather they should provide roster updates for an "off year" and come back every two years with some substantial improvements to the game engine. There is some merit to this, but unfortunately it falls apart due to economic reality - there is no reason for EA to let the franchise lay fallow when it's guaranteed to move millions of units no matter what.

Second, and perhaps more importantly, is the issue of exclusivity. A few years ago EA cut a deal with the NFL and players' assocation, granting them exclusive rights to use the team names, stadiums, and players' names and likenesses in a game. This left other franchises, like 2K Sports' ESPN NFL 2K series (which many considered to be superior to Madden, especially the 2k5 edition) out in the cold. Again, this argument stems from the concern that the lack of competition will breed complacence and result in a failure to innovate. Unfortunately, there's not much that can be done on this point, either.

I suppose the one good thing about this year's Madden is that EA seems to be partnering with Microsoft to push the Xbox 360 version of the game, which can only be good for my chosen console.