Blog War II

Now, don't get me wrong, I didn't mean all people are that way about sports games. The sad truth is a lot of people will rush out to buy a new game just because it has a new number attached to the end, but not all people. I also never meant to imply that all sports games should be changed drastically with every new one. Take the Tony Hawk games for example: They don't change a whole lot from sequel to sequel (except 2 and 3 which pretty much changed the way you play with the manual and revert), but now with T.H.U.G. it seems like it's not even a skateboarding game anymore. I guess I haven't played it yet though, so take my opinion with a grain of salt. Anyway, the point I was trying to make is that there's a different standard. Some (not all) people will go out and buy Madden, or Live, or what have you every year, but then turn around and complain about games like Max Payne or Resident Evil and how don't change enough.

Address Unknown

Hi everyone. My name is Pete, and I love Max Payne 2. People have complained about it because it's not too different from the 1st one (aside from the amazing new physics engine. "Mmm... physicsy"). See the thing is people expect all sequels (except sports games) to either innovate or vastly change what the first had. This is because games don't hardly try to have much of a story, and just build a story around the game instead of the other way around. See, when movies do things like that, bad things happen. So why do games do it? You got me. Max Payne does it as it should be done, game around story, and the results are great. Sure it doesn't do anything thing gameplay wise that rocks any boats, but it sure does story wise. Heck, I think it makes a better movie than most movies do.

Speaking of movies (the segue king strikes again!), the reason I haven't mentioned it yet is because I lack the vocabulary to describe its splendor. Just let me say that it's better than you think it will be, no matter what. Just be sure to let yourself enjoy it even though it's different from the books.

Overdoing it

It's six degrees out right now. I normally wouldn't mind that, but I seem to have a bad case of something. Come on, I don't ask for much. All I want is twenty, maybe thirty more degrees.

Maybe I missed something...
But I don't get it.

I've got no time for shenanegins! No time!

I've been playing quite a bit of Kingdom Hearts lately, but not as much as I'd like. I'd like to be playing it right now for instance, but I have to go to bed soon. Ya know, for a game directed to kids, it sure seems like you'd have to do a lot of drugs to know what's going on. The same holds true for Max Payne 2 though I guess. Well, not the directed to kids part...

In case anyone was wondering... Yes, I do think "Livin' On A Prayer" by Bon Jovi is the highest song ever, and that's without the key change. I mean really, when they were recording it Jon Bon Jovi must've said something along the lines of "Gee, I don't think this song is inhumanly high enough, maybe we should put a key change in there and make it higher", and then the guy who plays guitar solos with his voice said "Golly, Jon Bon Jovi, I think you're right." Yeah, that must be what happened.

Grace like a river.

Oh, ok then Destroy. All is forgiven.

There's a plane down here.

That's what I thought at about 8:30 this morning. My dad told me someone was coming to clean the furnace this morning, but I guess I didn't quite know that it meant someone was coming to start a jet engine in my basement.

By the way...

Buy a Midnight Sun Express shirt. You'll be cooler for it.

A new power has risen

Looks like Destroyer wants a piece of me in the fabled "Blog Wars". You see, his blog says "Mood: Blah". Thing you you don't see however is that he's got a penguin right before "blah"! What are you saying Destroyer? That penguins are blah?! Well take this! My mood: (pretend like there's an actual picture of Destroyer) blah! Yeah, that's right. Try to recover from that one!

What's the dealio?

Man, what's with people being cryptic all of a sudden?

The truth comes out!

Well, it's been a long time coming, but Harry finally admitted he was stupid. He then proceeded to say that he hopes that I never forget he said it. More proof there really is good in this world.

One Less Car.

Well, I have one less car. So let's see... 1 - 1 = 0. I think that's right... But I was never good at math. Oh well, life goes on! I suppose you'd like to hear the story, eh? Ok, you can.

I was driving, and I hit a van. Both cars smashed bad. It was nuts. I'm ok though, and Jason was riding with me and he's ok. I just hope the other driver is ok. Pray for him, I think his name is Joseph. He had hip surgery recently, so they took him to the hospital to make sure it was ok... I really hope he's ok. Anyway, I'm gonna be screwed for money, but really, how big is money compared to The Almighty God? Exactly. Eat it satan. If Job could lose everything and handle it, I think I can handle losing a measly car. It's crazy too, I had a bunch of people praying for me before they even knew I was in an accident! I mean, my mom was across the street at Wendy's, and Roberta Smith drove by as it happened. They didn't even know it was me, but they were praying! Crazy huh?

So yeah, lost a car. Kinda sucks, but not big in the grand scheme of things. I still have my soul, and hopefully I'll have new Bleach tomorrow. Everything will be just fine.

Check it out!
I'm really cool!

Bleach is good.
They have a new eCard for "Astronomy", and I have to say it freaking rules. Have you seen the album art? Man, it's good. October 21st is going to be a good day for music. We've got "Astronomy" and "Rising Action" all in one day! I couldn't ask for much more than that.

Animal Crackers.
Well today's been one of those days where I listen to lots of music. Let me fill you in. I started things off by finding "Get Ready To Die" by Andrew W.K. It's a pretty humorous song actually. It's got like the happiest chord progression ever, but it's all about killing. I would've bought his first cd if it weren't for the terrible picture on the front. Then I went to mp3.com to find some stuff from his new cd "The Wolf" which is an awesome name for a cd.
On the way I was side-tracked by a song from The Strokes' new cd "Room On Fire" (also rad name). It was a good enough song. It had that nice laid back Strokes feel too it, and also a nice little keyboard part that added a lot. We'll see if their new cd is much different than the first though.
So then I read some reviews of "The Wolf" and I guess the word on the street is it's a little slowed down from his first. I listened to a couple songs and the word on the street seems to be right.
I just listened to The Even Anthem e-card, and they were pretty good I guess, but they sounded like a bunch of other bands.
Now I'm listening to the Mono Vs. Stereo sampler e-card. I'll give you the low down track by track.

1. The Even Anthem - "Good Fight, Good Night": I already told you about these guys. Good song title though.
2. The Uriah Omen - "Maybe The Butler Did It": Hardcore with puke screaming. I don't like it one bit.
3. Andy Zipf - "Running Out": Good times, he sounds kinda like Bono. Sounds good, a little like twothirtyeight (RIP). I really like it.
4. Matt Beckler - "In My Head": This is really kinda spacey, it reminds me of something, but I'm not sure what. It's not too bad though.
5. Boywunder - "Reflections That Pale In Comparison": Terrible Scream-core. I couldn't skip it fast enough.
6 The Back Alley Fights - "The Cellar": Cool band name, kinda nice drive to the song. Nothing too special.
7. Matthew Thiessen & The Earthquakes - "Poison Ivy": Awesome band name. Pretty piano music. I love his song writing.
8. House Of Heroes - "Mercedes Baby": These guys rule, I would've picked up their cd at Sunshine, but I'm poor. Check them out. They're good.
9. Embraced - "Saratoga": More screaming hardcore. Don't care. Skip.
10. Showdown - "Vow Of Silence": See previous review.
11. Wellwater - "On Our Way": Not bad. Reminds me of Anberlin a bit, but not as good.
12. Johnny Come Lately - "Carry On": I kinda like it. That's about all I have to say.
13. The Connotations - "We Are Trouble By The Truckloads": A little on the weird side. I can't understand a word the guy is saying. Kinda catchy though. There's a nice piano breakdown.
14. Marcco - "A Beautiful Life": Nice and laid back. Sounds a little like Luna Halo.
15. Colson - "Lately": More screaming, but mixed with singing. It's not bad. Kinda like Blindside.

That's it. My favorites were Andy Zipf, Matt Thiessen & The Earthquakes, and House Of Heroes.

That's all I got. Later.

Something isn't right here...
I just went to Planet GameCube, but before it let me in, I had to watch an ad for Xbox Platinum Hits. Can anyone else see something wrong with this picture?

I want to live on the run.
I just wanted to say thanks to everyone that came out to the show last night and listened to us and said we were good, I really appreciate it. I think we'll be playing again on Oct. 24th or 25th (not sure which it is) at the Stainless CD release party, and you can bet we'll have more songs for your listening pleasure. We're hoping to get a website up pretty soon here too, but for now you'll just have to pretend this is our website.
Shock Town baby.

Jeez, it's about time you dirty beggar!
That's what everyone will say now that I'm posting. It's true, it is about time, thanks. What's new you ask?

I just got Starcraft back, and I suck.

I also suck and Dynasty Warriors 4 and can't beat the Nanman campaign.

I saw a Vox Cambridge (2-10 I think) at the Eckroth's for $300 bucks. It sounded amazing clean, but when I turned the gain up it seemed like it sucked all the presence out of the amp.

I'm poor as dirt.

I was going to buy the Line 6 AM4, but due to the previous sentence, I can't.

I got Rooney for $10 at Wal-Mart. This is something everyone should do. They're like Phantom Planet, heck the singer is even related the drummer from PP.

New Dashboard is really, really good. I hope people don't decide to hate it just because it's different. It's on sale for $12 at Target, you should buy it. I'll (probably) post a review later.

The Midnight Sun Express is opening for Crimson and Stainless at The Light Club at 8:00pm Friday the 5th. Please come. We don't suck, I promise.

Buy games from Rock 30 Games. Why? Because I work there. That and we have some of the better prices around.

Right, well I'm going to go and try to not suck at Starcraft now, so I'll talk to you later.

Ok, why is it whenever something bad happens some someone, they feel that you have to experience it too? "Gross, this smells! Here smell this!" or "Yuck, this tastes terrible! Try it!" WHY SHOULD I?!? It's smells like crap and tastes about the same, why do you insist I try it? How about when something annoys them, and they feel the need to replicate it for you. "I heard this horrible noise that drove me nuts, it was so annoying I wanted to die! It went like this..." Well thanks for sharing that misrable noise with me. Now not only have I heard the noise that was so awful I wanted to die, you've heard it TWICE! I guess you had to suffer again for making me suffer. That makes me feel a little better.

A day that will live in infamy.
It's officially been one whole year since Bavis updated his blog.