Weather Round Two

Last year I just about lost my mind with the local weather people here in Columbus. I know some of my frustration comes with the region. I love snow, always have. I don't mind the cold. I grew up in the mountains. However, I spent a good part of a decade in North Carolina. Where snow is rare, and temps below 20 are even rarer. So the winter here does drag after a bit.

It's just getting started up here, and I'm trying to get use to that fact. But one thing, ONE THING, I'm not going to get use to is the incorrect forecasting. Not just a little wrong, a lot wrong. So, anyway, the 'First Warning' team over at Fox 28 is calling for 2" of snow tomorrow morning. We'll see Mr. Martz, we. shall. see.

Over on NBC Jym Ganahl is teasing me with his forecast... waiting... COME ON! While we are waiting, let me just say that NBC 4 here in Columbus was terrible in their predictions last year. Even when making predictions made in the morning for that afternoon's weather they were wrong. For the couple weeks I watched them they could have predicted rain every day and got it right more then what they did. Their temps weren't just off they had a variance of 20 degrees. In other words it could have been 32 that day or 52. Whatever... Alright, we are back... give it to me Jym... ok. Snow all day, same as Fox 28... wait a bigger snow on Wednesday!? Tomorrow. Focus Jym... 1-3" inches 20 degrees. I got you.

7 degrees on Friday. Wonderful.

The 2008 Game

It's over now. Lots of games have been played during 'that' year. I have to say I've had a lot of fun doing it. I've really enjoyed starting a good collection of games and (working) consoles. So I feel it is sort of important to look back at the better ones...

First off, I'll have to say right now I'm enjoying Rock Band 2... as a drummer. I've had a lot of fun playing this with Audrea, and look forward to many more nights doing so.

But what is the best game I've played this year? Well, that would be Call of Duty IV. Folks, I have to say that this game, with out a doubt in my mind, takes the prize. I played the hell out of it. Offline and on. It ranks up there with my favorites of all time.

A couple other games worth checking out are Rez HD (XBOX Live), XXIII (PS2), and Brothers in Arms, Hell's Highway (XBOX 360). If you still have a Genesis, check out Comix Zone. Great game. I had a lot of fun playing those games. Fallout 3 (XBOX 360) is a good game for those with the time to immerse themselves in it and Assassin's Creed, which actually came out last November, is definitely worth checking out if you haven't already. Civilization Revolution on the 360 is a great time too.

It's worth noting that Rockstar's magnum opus GTAIV is just on another complete level.

As for 2009? I'm looking forward to it. 'Stoked', believe it or not, is the first game on my list, coming out later this month. Hopefully, Operation Flashpoint comes out later this year along with the much delayed new Splinter Cell.

As for the time being? I'm drumming away at Rock Band 2. I'm putting on my scull cap here in a few minutes and pretend I'm Mike D wailing away at the drums for the first time for 'So Watcha Want'.

What a good gaming 2008! Happy New Year!

Christmas Is Over

KIEFER

There is an explosion in a closet in Building 12

Alternate title for this post #1: Movie that time forgot and/or didn't permit me to watch.

#2: I'm allowed to post a picture of Claire Forlani aren't I?

#3: What am I doing watching bad movies again and drinking too much Sangiovese

Around 2001 a little movie called Antitrust starring Ryan Phillippe (must have) splashed across the silver screen. Yeah, I just watched it. In my burnt out working internet retail managing 100 people and surviving shark infested water world I am allowed too much wine and my little amount of free time friday night. So there! i won't even caps my sentences from now on... provoke me and i won't even use spell check even with dotted red lines mark my misspellings.

this is the same angst and milaze that courses thru the veins of ANTITRUST. open source, man. yeah, i watched the pile that is a movie. it has a special charm that only few can see... and i'm in that few. what? you see that pic of claire right?

i've done my time with this movie. i watched it. somebody owes me something. i'll even tag this awesome movie in my lables section. hell, i'll even put ryan phillipe down there.

i'm convinced that HD is allowing me to watch bad movies now. mgm now has a station on time warner allong with a couple other movie studios all in HD and they are filling them with crapola movies for some reason. am i suppose to go out and buy antitrust now? does ryan phillippe have a new movie coming out? are they promoting something? what is the agenda here???? certainly mgm has something better to broadcast!!!!!@!!!!!@!!@@!!@. argggggg!

anyway, There is an explosion in a closet in Building 12... it's a diversion, SPOILER! tim robbins is in this movie. plays a guy named gary winston or winstone or something... william gates... GW... WG. get it? think about that and let it blow your mind.

Life Bars

What better way to get in the holiday mood then taking advantage of people clearing out there closets of video games for that extra bit of holiday money. I know the word 'advantage' may not be the best word to use because in actuality, most people with old Genesis games don't sell them on ebay, they take them to thrift stores. Haha! That may say something about the quality and value of those games, but never the less... it is actually cheaper to buy Genesis games on ebay. Most recently, for 20 bucks, I've picked up:

- Street Fighter II
- James Buster Douglas Boxing
- Pat Riley Basketball
- Altered Beast
- Chakan
- The Incredible Hulk
- Shining in the Darkness
- Columns

For a few dollars more during a Saturday afternoon of thrift store shopping i picked up:

- FIFA International Soccer
- Olympic Gold (Barcelona)
- NHLPA Hockey

This brings my Genesis Collection up to an impressive 39 titles... out over over 800 titles. Getting there. I just said over 800, but I know it to be 823. If someone out there wants to correct me then more power to ya.

I've got one of my Genesis systems hooked up in my bedroom for play. That's right I said one of them. Right now I'm working through ESWAT and Cliffhanger (as in the Stallone movie). I have to say that ESWAT is a pretty good game. You work your way up through the ranks and gain more perks and armor. It's similar to a game like Shinobi and Rolling Thunder (one of the original of it's kind). I just bid on a cart of Rolling Thunder 3 for $6 dollars. Cliffhanger sucks. Sux with and 'x'. Graphically it is okay. Stallone does his 'Stallone' (see exploding pipes in Daylight) marching around with a t-shirt on top of snowy mountains, but man, is is frustrating and, well, lame. The most frustratingly notable thing about this game is that when you hit continue after you have failed... it takes you back to the beginning no matter how far you've gone. That's called 'starting over'.

Anybody still reading? Didn't think so. But if you are... please stop.

I've always considered, in my own world, that Cliffhanger was the last of its kind. Bad guys steal something... initially uninvolved hero gets involved... explosions... humor... action hero saves day. I do have a hankering to watch Cliffhanger though. Or Commando. Go figure.

100% Safe Tons

Everyday, I'm inspired by my drive to work. More recently, with the possible impending collapse of General Motors, things have started getting to me more. Columbus is in the heart of the Industrial Center of the United States. Maybe GM will come out a more competitive auto company, maybe it will completely fail. I don't know. What I do know is that the industrial midwest is in for a world of hurt over the next couple of years. It's heart has already been ripped out once by the collapse of the US steel industry, it will be hard for this area's soul if the auto industry does the same. So whatever my personal feelings are towards the UAW or the Teamsters my thoughts and prayers are with the families that are impacted the most in the coming year. I heard The Black Keys' song "I Got Mine" one morning recently and things just kind of got to me all at once so I wanted to put this together. It's quick. But it will remind me of frozen commutes to work in which i drive past the once mighty Buckeye Steel Castings on my way to play my own part in Ohio MFG. The Black Keys are from Akron, Ohio. Sometimes you can't even tell if a song is good or not if it hits you right.

Fallout 3

Fallout 3 stands in stark contrast to Fable 2. With all the similarities they have you can't overlook the differences. It's no doubt that Peter Molyneux and his studio created an wonderful game (dare i say, underrated?). But 'tis the season for games to get short shrift in terms of playing time. A couple times a week I pop on over to Gamers With Jobs to see what they are writing (moaning) about. I find that they write a lot about what I'm into and write a lot more effectively then I do. They've written both about Fable and Fallout at length so I'm not breaking new ground here when I say that they are both great games. However... Fallout 3... Fallout 3. A remarkable game. It helps feed the lack of a PC beast in my life. I have a long lost affection for games like Fallout. My first gaming experiences might have been on the Atari 2600, but my most memorable are on the Amiga and C64. I'm an Ultima guy at heart. An adventurer. I picked up Fallout instead of Call of Duty 5 because Best Buy had a special edition of it. I got home, plopped it into my Xbox and went to work. After about an hour in 'the vault' and deciding how i wanted to play the game it opened up it's world to me and I got hooked. Stepping out of Vault 101 is an experience to be remembered. Highly recommended.

Football and Nike

As the NFL season settles in continues to keep me entertained I felt the urge to post up the newish Nike commercial that has been on pretty heavy rotation this year. Why post it? I've got very little interest in advertising these days, in fact I wouldn't wish a career of trickery for dollars on anyone (smiley face:). I'm posting because it isn't getting old. Anybody who has seen and love "The Good, Bad and Ugly" will recognize the base tune. While Nike's soccer adds have been hitting the mark for a decade, their (or should I say Weiden Kennedy) football ads have fallen short. Which is a shame because of the uniqueness of the sport of football in our culture. Part of it may have to do with the way American sports operates with out ads on uniforms or plastered all around the rim of the stadium. Whatever the case, ads for football have fallen short. That is until now...



It is in the same vein as last years Steven Jackson, Sean Merriman ad but better. But, just for pure entertainment value and because Nike owns sports advertising; a soccer one that I could watch a hundred times. If I imagine Smitty in that first person view i could watch it 100 times more.

Ranged Weapons and Matt T.

Been a while since I've written. Moving gets in the way of that. It's a funny thing moving for a 2nd time in an unfamiliar place. But I digress. Alas! I am move-en. And much Fable II is been play-en. And much North Carolina has been thought-en. Fable brings back many good memories. It is what I call a Matt game. I play deep into the night hours, early in the sacred Sunday morning holiness. Matt, I miss you brother. While my time in Ohio may still be ticking on, I often wonder now how much I miss. North Carolina is a like a myth to many people in Ohio. OBX coffee mugs on co-workers desks. Stories from friends here that recount a ten year old trip to the mountains. It was all there in my hands, a missed opportunity to expound on. But here I am, making more then enough to be where I would rather be. Ohio, my friend, you have learned me much. Most importantly, what is important.