The International House of Bacon

E3 is this week! Already, craziness that I’m wicked excited about:

* Thing that is cool: Netflix “Watch Now” on the XBox 360 in the fall.

Why it is cool: Because it allows me to stream movies from Netflix on my 360. How is that not awesome? A piece of hardware I already own, on a bigger TV, it’s like adding 4000 On Demand stations. That’s just ridiculously awesome.

Why it might suck: Standard def to start, and streaming doesn’t always work great for me.

* Thing that is cool: Final Fantasy XIII on the XBox 360, no longer a Playstation 3 exclusive.

Why it is cool: Because it’s Final Fantasy XIII on a system I own. Considering one of my chief concerns with the 360 v. PS3 debate was this possible exclusivity, I’m now incredibly pleased that the system I have will have it. Will I likely get a Ps3 at some point in time for the Blu-Ray? Yeah, but now I don’t need to worry about this game.

Why it might suck: Final Fantasy 11 was online only and kind of meh. Final Fantasy 12 I missed the boat on. Final Fantasy 8 was crap. Final Fantasy X? Don’t get me started. In a series that hasn’t had a superior game in 11 years, well…

* Thing that is cool: Loading games onto the XBox

Why it is cool: Because I get too many damn disc errors sometimes.

Why it might suck: 20 GB drive ain’t much.

* Thing that is cool: Portal: Still Alive, the sequel/add-on to Portal from The Orange Box.

Why it is cool: Because it’s more Portal, because it’s Valve, because it’s more Portal, because the original was so good, and because it’s more Portal.

Why it might suck: I don’t even want to imagine such a possibility.

And to think, this is only after day one…

Let’s see what we can plow through.

* 100 pubs in Ireland, 7% of their total, have closed shop since Ireland’s smoking ban went into effect. The prediction is that 100 more will close in the next year. Take from that what you will.

* Jacob Sullum wrote an excellent piece for Reason about the Texas FLDS raid. Since going to print, however, more information has surfaced, such as the fact that only two children were indeed underage parents per Texas law. Those two being the impetus for taking 468 children from the compound because of alleged danger. My goodness, did the authorities screw up this one.

* How will Obama’s 16 month withdrawal plan work (assuming that’s his plan)? Soldiers in Iraq suggest it won’t.

* So IndyMac collapsed, in part because of a run prompted by Chuck Schumer’s commentary (although it likely would have collapsed anyway), and Fannie and Freddie Mac are in a little trouble. Interestingly, the problem some are describing on the left is not enough regulation on the latter companies, even though the Democrats stood in the way of those regulations. Regardless, I do find the regulation calls to be empty, considering how heavily regulated these companies are and how they’re not-so-subtly urged to lend to otherwise unworthy candidates. Part of capitalism is failure - it’s time we understand that a bit.

* The Manchester Union-Leader is spot-on: “MAYBE THE quickest way to lower oil and gas prices would be this: Immediately enroll every Democratic member of Congress in an entry-level economics class.” I wonder if the drilling situation will hurt Democratic chances in the House and Senate at all in November.

* Why is Obama’s Iraq op-ed so ridiculous? He was so dead wrong about the surge, and yet he tries to claim he was right anyway. There are more problems with the op-ed than just that, but it’s really the most glaring part. Ridiculous.

* Oddly enough, New Hampshire had straight ticket voting. I didn’t know that. It’s gone now, though - that should make things more interesting.

* Christianity Today has an election blog now, which is a great read. Here’s a post about a Congressional candidate requiring his volunteers to do 10% of their volunteering as community service. The blog is filled with a lot of these notes you wouldn’t hear about otherwise, so it’s a good pickup for your daily reading.

* Finally, 20 abandoned cities. I found this fascinating. This kangaroo didn’t.

Oh, also? Joss Whedon’s web musical, Dr. Horrible’s Sing-a-Long Blog, posted its first act today. It’s absolutely worth your time - among others, it stars Neil Patrick Harris and Nathan Fillion.