What should be an interesting and exciting video (a tour of a pinball machine factory) is apparently created in the spirit of a 'Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!' skit. That is to say... horrible.

This time, it's for real. There's money on the line. No more freebies. No more second chances. No more third, fourth or fifth chances. You get three shots and that's it. Then, more money on the line. Not much money, but enough to remind you that it could be gone in ten seconds if you're not focused. Time to concentrate. No more practice runs. This is what you've been training for. This is the moment you find out what you're made of... and you've not on home turf anymore. No, this time, you're in the wild. In a foreign environment. Every twist and turn is new. Every shot is a shot in the dark... sometimes literally.

It was fantastic.

• 12:35 NO WOOT. I WILL NOT FALL TO YOUR LUSTFUL GAZE. I AM MAN. So, WOOT OFF, Woot-Off! #

Automatically shipped by LoudTwitter

Imagine my surprise... the new Nintendo Channel is actually pretty neat! It ranks a lot of games and gives geeky stats about them, you can download DS demos and it has videos of most wii, ds and most importantly, virtual console games. now i dont have to guess what the hell crazy japanese VC games are... i can watch a video of them.

very cool... although the download is MASSIVE.

***

i didnt remember her until recently, but as a kid, i had the hots for the female Pinbot.

***

we watched 'Teeth' tonight. its everything you'd expect a movie about vagina dentada to be. that is to say... pretty decent.

we finished Battlestar Season Three the other day... yawn. worst. ending song thingy. ever.

the whole season was a MAJOR letdown. season two had me enamoured, and in love, with the series after a rocky start. the honeymoon is over. i guess i can start into season four now. OH! i need to add Razor to my netflix LIKE NOW...

***

we finished Oz Season Five tonight. man... the ending to that was sad, but kinda perfect. Augustus has a knock out final word and the closing shot is a stunner. cant wait to dig into season six... to finish out the series.

***

did i mention we watched 'Bull Durham' the other night. it was a bit of a letdown too... i think i was expecting Caddyshack, but with more heart. instead i got porkys for adults. it was ok.

***

cd updated

The Weepies - Hideaway
The Kooks - Konk

talk about your bad album titles.

and i got Dov's record... i forget the name or his last name... i'll write it down soon.

***

i'm in love. more later. much later.

***

my back is still dead.

***

i'm rambling because i'm trying to remember what i wanted to write about in the first place... wtf was it? justin reminded me of something... but now i'm at a loss... the new Interpol unofficial video is pretty neat... 'Rest My Chemistry' is probably my favorite song from LP3, so it has that going for it.

I'm sure everyone has heard it by now, but the new Weezer single... it's actually good! I'm as shocked as you are.

The lyrics aren't completely awful!

The melody is fantastic!

The composition is interesting!

It almost kinda sounds like old Weezer. It sounds like what Old Weezer would probably sounds like at this point in their career, had they survived.

I'm stunned.

The new Scarlett Johansen song isn't completely awful either... wowzers. I wouldn't buy it, but it's not awful. not awful. and shes engaged to ryan reynolds. i thought he was still with alanis.

welcome to my new blog... i'm going to spill gossip on all the hottest young celebrities. I'm like Perez Hilton, only fatter and with a worse haircut (yes. both are possible.)

***

I'm digging the Wombats too. I'm officially a 13 year old girl.

so i officially tore the piss out of my back. i pulled it again today lifting a case of chocolate covered raisins. i went to urgent care because i thought it was just something i did... but the doc said it was workers comp... a case of overused muscles or something. so then i had to go to my works doctor... that took all gotdamned day. i took a vicodin, 800mg of ibuprofen got a shot in my ass and went to physical therapy.

naturally my work doctor cleared me to work... so i'll be back in the saddle tomorrow. it hurts when i think. but i was jacked up on enough drugs today that it was ok for the bulk of the day.

***

i played A LOT of Williams Pinball Hall of Fame for the Wii. A lot. i love that game. i can't quit you WPHOF!

• 22:12 Fracking sleepy. Want. More. GTAIV. #
• 22:12 @Shipwreck R-Type is a strategy? Forget that... I was kinda looking forward to it too... Bummer... #

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My complaining about Animal Crossing two years ago.

The game I love to hate.

'Great DJ' by The Ting Tings is the Free Download on iTunes right now. Just go to the iTunes homepage and there is a link to it right in the center of the page.

It's one of the better tracks they've offered recently.

Also, I think iTunes turned five years old today. Word.

• 21:12 Fracking sleepy. Want. More. GTAIV. #
• 21:12 @Shipwreck R-Type is a strategy? Forget that... I was kinda looking forward to it too... Bummer... #

Here's my junks via LoudTwitter

Color me shocked... the 'Kung Fu Panda' game is actually pretty good! I mean, its still really easy, it's a kids game after all, but for what it is, its great. The combat and action works well, the graphics are really pretty as is the animation.

When I booted up the demo, I was hit with the 'Luxoflux' logo... creators of one of my favorite games, Vigilante 8... an admitted 'Twisted Metal' rip-off, but they actually did everything right and it was a great combat driving game.

They haven't released anything that great since then, but it's nice to see they're still around.

If you have kids, or like simple games and collecting coins, give 'Kung Fu Panda' a look... i don't know if i can say the same for the movie... that looks pretty bad.

***

hung out with matt and tamara last night and pretty much just talked tv and movies for a couple hours. it was fun and we never got around to playing any games or anything.

***

I also gave the 'Sega Superstars Tennis' demo a look on the 360. I hated the PS3 demo, but when I found out it was made by the same group that did Virtua Tennis, I decided to give it another look. It works much better on the 360, much easier to control, oddly enough. I figured they should be about identical. It's still a bit too simple, even for a tennis game. they have you push XA or AX to do lob shots or whatever. you dont use Y or B at all. why not put lob on Y like every other tennis game? it's frustrating. And when you charge up for a special shot, you only get to keep it for one point. its not timed, I guess it would be useful if you're only up by one, but its awkward to initiate as well. the ball has to be in play for you to use the charge, so you cant do it on a serve.... frustrating.

***
cd

Nerf Herder - IV

in a strange twist of fate... my top 2 most anticipated games are both released this week.

GTA IV (duh.)

and

EchoChrome!!!

yup... its hitting PSN today for just ten bones in both PSP and PS3 flavors. i think i'll go for the PSP version. hot damn!

i stumbled through the japanese demo and loved it. i'm sure to get to the fourth level and pull my hair out though.

***

also... looks like we're doing two podcasts today. or something.

***

and!

cd update

Lyrics Born - Whatever dumb title his new album has
David Crowder Band* - Remememedy Deluxe Edition

***

my back was pretty jacked today, so i came home early. watched 'before the devil knows you're dead'. it's good. better in some aspects than i expected and worse in some others. the story is good and its a pleasure to look at (and not just the naked parts), but the acting was... bonkers. i wasnt feeling it. worth a look though. really, the story is great.

i wont spoil it as much as the trailer does, but two brothers rob a jewelry store... their parents jewelry store. the heist goes bad...

***

an mfing spider was just crawling on my ear! how did it even get up there?

hell... now i feel them all over myself. ugh.

HAHAHAHA!

Man... I just love it when GameSh!t fails. Really. I LOVE IT.

Those reservations they shove up your ass everytime you set foot in their stores? Meaningless.

Way to be.



I saw my dad today at my work about an hour before I got off. He said that on the news they said GTAIV was selling out everywhere. I didn't bother with a pre-order because I'm a cheapass and I always wait until I know all my options before I commit to one place or another. When he told me it was selling out though... I got scared.

I ran to Best Buy after work and they still had some left... but not many. WTF? Seriously, I expected copies of GTAIV to be choking the aisles. It's the biggest title of the year, and is already being speculated to be the fastest selling game ever. I figured supply would STILL out rank demand. When Halo 2 was so 'rare' at launch, every store I went to had stacks and stack everywhere for weeks. There was no shortage in my area at all. That was a few years ago, so internet orders were smaller even...

Did GTAIV short ship or what?

of the 10 'friends' logged into their xboxes when i was playing (at a peak... i'd say at least 15 users showed up while i was playing, maybe more) EVERY single one of them was playing GTAIV. one guy did Halo 3 for a while, then went GTA. When Halo 3 launched i had 11 friends on at peak, and only 3 of us were playing halo. just to give a comparison.

***

So what do i think of it?

WELL...

I love it.

BUT.

It really really is more of the same. It's not a revolutionary leap to the next gen. Certainly the graphics and physics are much much better than in previous titles. and there is a ton more swearing and sex talk. but its a fine tuned version of GTAIII really.

not that that's a bad thing. GTAIII is one of the best games ever made and was a massive innovation and landmark title. Everything about GTAIV is better, but pretty much the same as you would expect.

Anyone try the multiplayer? I did just for a bit around dinnertime. I did a Team Deathmatch game. I'm hoping the other gametypes are better. the level sucked and the screen was a mess. you're dressed like some guy or whatever, and there is no team colors. i mean... i dropped in and there was an orange team and a purple team. i was wearing jeans and a navy jacket. uh... who do i shoot? as i was trying to find my bearings, some thug ran up next to me. i aimed my pistol at his face and he said 'what's up man?'... ok... we're purple apparently, or he's just as clueless as i am. he didnt fire at me, so i took off running towards the nearest orange blob on my radar.... he followed my every move constantly asking 'what's up man?'. then i got sniped.

i took down 4 guys with my pistol in 3 minutes and was ranked #1 on my team. i think everyone was confused as hell.

***

also.... the moment i booted the game... i mean... THE MOMENT. the freaking title screen had not even come up yet.... i got an invitation to play. wtf? its 2 in the afternoon on launch day for a historically single player game. please hold off on the invitations a day or two. did anyone really jump right into the multiplayer right away? the beginning of the game is a 10 minute cut scene... peoples...

he sent me 3 more invitations throughout the day. i messaged him and said i wanted to spend some alone time in liberty city. he said that was fine. and then proceeded to send invites anyway. i guess he's just excited.

i have 14 more multiplayer types to try... so i'm sure i'll hit him up soon.

I think i'm about 8% through the main storyline. something like that. i just got an email account in the game. achievements are pretty random. i think i have 4 or so, for pretty random things besides finishing levels.

***

cd update

The Roots - Rising Down or something
Portishead - 3

If you don't know, now you know.

reason number 50 bizillion that I'm in love with GTAIV:

CHELSEA PERETTI does a radio voice! The fuel the fires my loins...

Jim Norton too! allegedly Norm MacDonald is in there as well, but I haven't seen his thingy yet... so to speak. Iggy Pop is probably the biggest DJ, Femi Kuti is another. (besides Lazlow).

with every GTA game, the first thing I do is crack open the instruction booklet and see who did voices and radio time in the game...

So we saw 'Expelled' tonight. But I'm not going to talk about it, you'll just have to listen to the next episode of the SuperCandid Podcast for details! Not that anyone gives a sh!t.

***

Also, I sold Brawl. They gave me $30. That's about $8 more than I expected.

***

GTAFTW!!!!

WTF?

They've got this and a German language track called 'German Studies', both from the new record... I thought Fotini put one of her greek cds in my playlist at first when this came on.

***

and what's up with imeem? Does ANYONE just surf around there listening to stuff? I really only use it to share music via the little player. I have just shy of 19,000 total plays in my account! I don't promote it anywhere but here, so ... weird. How is it that we have a full blown blog with a bi-weekly podcast, that's over a year old at that, and it's got less than a tenth the plays that whatever crap I put on imeem does?

Jon... we need to dig for gold via imeem ASAP.

***

We recorded and released a demo podcast... a THIRD podcast... it actually turned out better than i thought. we were not really confident on the pacing and format, but we got the recording nailed down and halfway through it sounds great. we also didnt have a need to censor ourselves, so its a lot more entertaining than supercandid... not that i'm hating on supercandid or anything.

as soon as we get another show in the can, i'll post a link... unless you want to hear it, just comment and i'll send you the link. its really rough as far as content... it involves mainstream movies though. It's 'The Stupid Podcast for Jerks'... a nod to such an obscure movie, even we haven't digested the pop culture hipness of it.

The look on Jason Priestleys face makes me want to play MarioKart Wii RIGHT NOW. He looks so full of joy. It's like he's thinking 'HOLY SMOKES! I've never in my entire life had this much fun ever!'

If it had come out a month ago, or maybe in a month, I'd buy it in a heartbeat. But as is, on the dawn of the most exciting moment of my entire life, no dice.

In XXIV hours from right now, I will start playing GTAIV...

I'm seriously WAY excited. Believe it or not, I'm literally more excited about my upcoming excursion in Liberty City than I was about my real life vacation last week. I'm really not joking... I haven't been this excited about a video game since... I don't even know when.

I was really excited about Orange Box, but this... this is something else...

Maybe the last time I was this excited was when I got my Wii at launch and it was just a pandora's box of mysteries.

even then... GTAIV is the reason i bought a 360. Remember at launch (*cough*still) how they sucked and had no good games and were not really that happening? well, i waited 9 months. then GTAIV was announced. that was in 2006? i thought it was coming out THAT christmas, and i saw the rare 360 in stores and bit. i didnt know they actually meant christmas 2007 (which became 2008). yes. i, in essence, paid $400 for this game already.

of course everyone knows that i love my 360 more deeply than i could ever even love my own child. so it worked out in the meantime.

crappy vacation photos is up!

for some reason... they all loaded small on flickr.

the stream: http://flickr.com/photos/callmesteam/sets/72157604767662377/