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…

* The big news of yesterday is the California Supreme Court affirming same-sex marriage. While I’m in favor of gay marriage (as well as plural and whatever other kinds of consenting marriages one can conjure up), and I say this without having read the entire piece nor having read any detailed analysis as of yet, I still wonder if the use of the Courts to force this through is ultimately dragging down the acceptance of this sort of thing or not. Even if the legal reasoning is sound, there’s a good sized subset that will never truly accept such a ruling and cry “judicial activism!” while causing an extreme pushback, which we’re likely to see in California if and when the Constitutional Amendment to ban the marriages lands on the ballot. Without even getting into the way it changes the electoral landscape (Obama’s only a +7 against McCain in the most recent SurveyUSA poll in California from a month ago), I’m just wondering if the Court challenges are ultimately the wrong tactic.

* A couple via Melvin today, the first about a 95 year old man who’s garbage wasn’t picked up for 2 weeks in England. Why? A ketchup bottle and coffee jar were placed in the incorrect bucket for recycling.

* Second, why does CNN assume a recession in its exit polling?

* ThinkProgress - not smarter than a fifth grader.

* Live by McCain, die by McCain. Another week over, another pretty interesting and positive speech by McCain that offsets previous speeches early in the week that seemed designed to tweak the right. If Obama wasn’t such a weak candidate, I’d be more concerned.

* Speaking of McCain, agree with him or not - this is some fairly solid thought behind foriegn policy and American intervention. It’s apparent he has thought these issues through, and should, if critics stay smart, put to rest any idea that McCain will continue the perception (and I use that word specifically) of Bush’s “cavalier” policy.

* A lot’s being said about Bush’s speech to the Knesset in Israel, and whether it was a shot at Obama (personal opinion? Most likely). The point that a lot of people seem to be missing is that, even beyond Obama’s ridiculous foriegn policy (a record he’s trying to run from), Obama is likely to have a serious Israel problem in the general election. That it hasn’t been highlighted by now is somewhat surprising to me, because there have been more than an isolated instance or so: there’s the “understanding” as to why Hamas would endorse him - and a rather tone deaf “understanding” at that, the belief by some that he may be hiding some thoughts on the Israel/Palestine situation (”I’m sorry I haven’t said more about Palestine right now, but we are in a tough primary race. I’m hoping when things calm down I can be more up front,” Obama’s advisor being in regular contact with Hamas, McPeak, Samantha Power - there’s a lot here. I’m not sure how much it will effect Obama long term, but I’m surprised we haven’t seen any significant discussion of it. Well, only somewhat surprised - that would come with the expectation that the media is doing its job.

* If you’re into this stuff, some crazy numbers about video game console sales during the month of April. Keep in mind - this includes Grand Theft Auto IV and Mario Kart Wii.

* Finally, a compilation of Manny Being Manny.

* This piece on a self-selected survey on what kids are reading kind of irritated me a bit. Granted, the article does note that many of the books that are listed are due to assignment, but this self-congratulatory praise of the list by the same educators who don’t want to deviate from what they know and instead widely push the same books that only resonate with a subset of kids is discouraging to me. Furthermore, they even cite the decline in the amount of books read per year, and fail to note any possible correlations between the often-dated, unrelatable, and typically preachy fare that they assign as opposed to some of the more interesting writing available, many of which share similar values and information while actually relating, either in character or style, to the kids who are reading them. The disconnect is absolutely incredible to me. There’s a longer rant about books and assignments and “classics” and whatnot that isn’t really good for right now.

* Jonah Goldberg on the Tuskegee experiments, separating the myths from the reality. I learned something here.

* I’m pretty sick of our marijuana laws. This has to be a new low. It was prescribed, you morons!

* New Zealand’s laws are so insane that it’s illegal to buy Grand Theft Auto IV for your child. As bad as it gets here…

* Heh.

* CNN’s decided that the news isn’t really important anymore. In the tank, indeed.

* I think I’m gonna throw up.

Prediction for today? Clinton by more than 5 in Indiana, Obama by no more than 7 in North Carolina. I wouldn’t be shocked to see Clinton pull within 5 in North Carolina, but there are a lot of African American voters in that primary, and I assume they’ll continue to break in favor of Obama the way they have.

Minor annoyances with two great games:

1) There’s a fatal flaw in Mario Kart Wii’s online play, and that’s wheelies. The introduction of bikes allows you to get a speed increase by doing a wheelie on straightaways - increases speed while drastically sacrificing steering. You can, of course, pop out at any time, so it’s not that much of a sacrifice - twice now, I’ve played people who jump out to half track leads by the midpoint of the match simply by doing wheelies all the time. I mean, I suppose it’s kudos to them for exploiting an otherwise reasonable speed alternative, but as more people become used to the concept, it’s really going to remove the whole kart element, and that could be rough. Then again, maybe it won’t, but there’s my annoyance.

2) Grand Theft Auto IV is great. In terms of sheer scope and everything, the reviews are spot on, and the small things that people seem to be complaining about (minus the car complaints, which make sense since the cars handle like cars and not Mario Karts) are very enjoyable for me. With that said, the fact that I can get a girlfriend and get her to invite me up to her place after running over two pedestrians and knocking off the fire hydrant outside her apartment seems a little bit off. Then again, she was pissed that we left the magic act early, so what does she know?

1) My current annoyance, outside of the fact that all the rechargeable batteries I have for the Wii and XBox controllers seem to want to die around the same time, is that the Wii Bluetooth has got to be the most inconsistent technological advancement in the current generation of systems. Syncing controllers is consistently a pain in the rear end, never works the same way twice, and always makes for interesting startups. It might just be me, but it’s really, really annoying.

2) We picked up Mario Kart Wii today, because when you own a system that only has 5 great games, you make sure you pick them up as soon as possible. Honestly? The Wiimote controls are difficult and literally painful, the Wii Wheel is ridiculous and I don’t use it after trying once race (and I then sold it on Amazon for $10, which boggles my mind), the handling on even the most highly-rated carts is incredibly hard, and they’ve made turbo sliding very tough. With that said, it’s still Mario Kart, and that means it’s pretty much awesome. Playing it online is probably the best part, and once I can get my controllers to sync up again, I’ll post my friend code. So I like it - a lot more than Brawl, not as much as Galaxy.

3) I beat Blue Dragon a couple weeks ago, which was nice. I think it’s the first game (outside of You Have To Burn the Rope) that I’ve played and beated in quite a long time. The ending was decent, I suppose. What was interesting to me, however, is the relative impossibility of some of the achievements. Yes, I’m an achievement whore, but not nearly enough of one to, say, rent a game just to bump my score up or play through another 40 hours to make sure I kill every last enemy in a role playing game that doesn’t allow you to skip cinematics. I have to say, the game was a blast and achievements are fun, but there’s very little chance of me going back to get 1000 points on that one.

4) Speaking of very little chance of getting 1000 achievement points, I finally decided to try my hand at Eternal Sonata. What a disappointment this game is to me early on! It takes the more annoying parts of Tales of Symphonia, ties in a storyline that’s boring me to tears, and either makes the battles way too easy or way too difficult, with no significant ease of leveling up that I’ve found yet. For those of you who have played it - does it improve? Is there hope?

5) Super Smash Bros. Brawl? Honestly? After a few days with it, it’s not really all that amazing to me. If GameStop is still offering $35 for it + 20% for Grand Theft Auto IV, I might actually jump at that. The game isn’t bad per se as much as it ended up not being that interesting to me, and many of the levels make the characters so small that it’s hard to play, and the solo “Subspace Emissary” mission is really, really poor compared to the solo mission on Melee. Color me disappointed.

6) I admit it - Viva Pinata is strangely fun.

7) Rainbow Six Vegas is good, too. I only play it multiplayer when I can catch up with Rick or Mark, because the solo is too hard and I do too much Team Fortress-style “run in with guns blazing” stuff, but I never thought I’d like a game like that, and I do.

I think that’s it for now.

Catching up while wondering who the mystery first pitch is for Red Sox opening day, and whether Obama’s promise to listen to the generals on the ground in Iraq applies to Gen. Petraeus this week.

* Bush fast-tracked the Colombian Free Trade Agreement yesterday. I said it before - for all the negatives of the Bush Presidency, his record on trade, on a whole, is not one of them. It’s especially refreshing when hearing the alternatives from the Democratic side.

* The rumor is that Condoleeza Rice is angling for the vice-presidential nomination on the McCain ticket. Unsolicited advice for McCain - we don’t know a thing about her, so don’t do it.

* Not everything is rainbows and unicorns financially on the left.

* Chances are that, if you have any interest in video games, you’ve already played You Have to Burn the Rope. If not, go and play it - you’re in for a treat.

* Don Boudreaux at Cafe Hayek on pessimistic bias regarding the economy. I’m generally more optimistic about these things myself, as he is.

* A question - it seems that every single time a politician or Presidential candidate attempts to use a person as an example for their own health care complaints, they’re lying about it. Why is that? We know that some people have it bad, why do they struggle so much to find them?

* Corn is now at $6/bushel. Thanks, ethanol! At least my gas prices are lower! Wait, what?

* In a “naw, really” moment, it appears that the health care requirement in Massachusetts has resulted in a - you guessed it - shortage in available doctors. Remember, this is the same kind of plan favored by Hillary Clinton.

* Obama’s positive ratings are due more to “how he makes voters feel than by specific characteristics they attributed to him.” But, again, I’m a jerk for pointing this out.

* Finally, more nationalization schemes from Hugo Chavez. I worry a lot for Venuzuela, and more because it’s another thing in a long list that the United Nations was designed for and that they’re essentially punting on. No, it’s not Darfur, it’s not Zimbabwe, it’s not Tibet, it’s not Taiwan. But it’s bad, and that no one is willing to step in through the allegedly essential international community is patently ridiculous.

You know you read too many blogs when you’re without internet access from Friday afternoon -> Sunday afternoon, and you have 580 unread posts in your Google Reader. Let’s see if we can’t knock some of them off.

* Did I post this last week? Maybe I did, but it’s worth posting again: this is awesome. A cell phone that doesn’t work via voice.

* Do ankles really exist? Doctors in Texas can’t agree. Ah, licensing squabbles…

* If Jonah Goldberg wrote as intelligently as he did in Liberal Fascism, I’d read him more often. His piece this week on the stark realities of the New Deal is one of those good pieces that will likely get overlooked. There’s no rational reason why it took me until an upper-level college history class to learn that there was even a rational alternative view on the New Deal, let alone the economic facts behind it. If we taught that sort of information in high school, it would do wonders.

* Deval Patrick made a pretty big deal about the casino legislation - one of the few things he’s been up to that I’ve thought was a good idea up to this point. Too bad he was working on his book deal in New York when the bill was being voted on. Way to push those votes, Deval. Good job.

* I learned something new today: Most United States citizens get their water from public works/governments, most United Kingdom citizens get it from private companies. Pretty backwards if you think about it - I never knew it was that widespread here, or that private there.

* Forget those White Sox frauds, read up on how the Red Sox are built for the long haul. Happy opening week!

* I love the “Al Gore riding in on a white stallion and rescuing the Democratic Party during the convention” fantasies. The reality is that he’s not going to run, and the perception is that Gore is even further left than Obama’s is.

* More about where the two Democratic candidates stand v. McCain. It’s still early when we don’t know who the Democrat is, but this is where Obama’s hurting the most following the Wright debacle - he may be able to recover the hard left (if he ever lost them to begin with), but the center is where his bread and butter was supposed to be in terms of viability, and that’s no longer a given. Regardless, a LOT can change in 6 months.

* I don’t watch Fox News. I don’t have any standard feeling as to what they stand for, whether they’re actually conservative or just further right than their cable competition. I did see Outfoxed and found it to be ridiculous. With that said, MoveOn demonstrating against Fox News? Really? Apparently, they think the mainstream media is getting its talking points from Fox, and that’s apparently bad. Isn’t the left also in favor of reinstating the fairness doctrine? How do these two things compute? I’m glad MoveOn’s relevance is continuing to disappear.

* Coming soon: WiiGuyver, where you use your Wiimote to diffuse bombs. This is actually for real - the US military is using rigged Wiimotes to help diffuse land mines. How funny is that?

* This past weekend was “Earth Hour,” where some people, groups, businesses, and even governments turned the lights out for an hour for yet another statement about climate change that only echoed amongst those who care. Google took part, turning their homepage black. The irony? It uses more energy for a monitor to display black than it does to display white. Yeah yeah, “awareness” and all that jazz, but come on.

* Barack Obama says his foriegn policy is a “return to the traditional bipartisan realistic policy of George Bush’s father, of John F. Kennedy, of, in some ways, Ronald Reagan…” So let me get this straight - Bush 41 made it so we had to spend 12 extra years bombing Iraq while we bent over backwards for the UN, Reagan spent a great deal of time funding contras and other undesirables in an attempt to disrupt various events, and JFK botched the Bay of Pigs so badly that it lead to a missile crisis that left the USSR in better condition defensively than it was when it started two weeks earlier. This is the type of foriegn policy he’s considering “realistic” and wants to return to, while deriding the alleged “naive ways that have caused us so much damage in our reputation around the world?” Barack Obama has said some ridiculous things on the campaign trail so far, but this takes the cake.

That’s enough for today. More tomorrow.

* Chrono Trigger a better investment than Apple. I was amused. And rightfully so, actually - Chrono Trigger is much better than anything Apple put out.

* I thought you couldn’t disown a crazy uncle?:

White House hopeful Barack Obama suggests he would have left his Chicago church had his longtime pastor, whose fiery anti-American comments about U.S. foreign policy and race relations threatened Obama’s campaign, not stepped down. “Had the reverend not retired, and had he not acknowledged that what he had said had deeply offended people and were inappropriate and mischaracterized what I believe is the greatness of this country, for all its flaws, then I wouldn’t have felt comfortable staying at the church.”

So after two weeks, the story doesn’t fade (and why should it when more comments such as the “bombs were built to kill blacks” and “garlic noses” come out), and Obama has to change his tune again. His numbers have gone to hell against McCain, the only polls he’s showing no harm on the Democratic side is a barely-reliable Gallup and a Wall Street Journal/NBC poll that has, for some points, a +/-7% margin of error in the oversampled groups that favor him the most. This is getting craaaazy.

* New Hampshire has its cake and eats it, too. Congrats to being one of the few states that refused to comply with Real ID and still got an “extension” from the Department of Homeland Security.

* What is with the Los Angeles Times? For those not aware, the Times published a story about Sean Combs (Puff Daddy, P. Diddy, etc) being linked to the Tupac Shakur murder. The problem? It was based entirely on fabricated documents. You’d think the media would learn after the Rather debacle in 2004.

* Obviously, they’re an advocacy group, but a study published at NORML notes that 70% of people who are getting treated for marijuana addiction do so through court-mandated programs. This means that we’re seeing people take treatment as opposed to prison time, and seeing the anti-legalization forces point to the treatment number as if it means something. Sigh. I made a prediction in 2000 that marijuana would be legal by 2010 - that ain’t happening.

* Also, The New York Times sorta gets RickRolled. Hoaxes are fun. Radly Balko linked both of these earlier, always worth a look.

* An interesting situation might be cropping up in Pennsylvania, where gun control may become an issue in the upcoming primary. Especially with the Supreme Court opinion on the Washington, DC gun ban coming up, this could cause some further pain to the eventual Democratic candidate against McCain if it comes up.

* Barack Obama’s doing some more detailing of his economic plan, and you know it’s rough when a guy who says he needs to learn more about economics has a much more sustainable plan than a guy who’s at least acting as if he has a clue. A capital gains tax hike (which would negatively impact investment, which is already hurting in the current climate), more regulation in banking (not that, you know, regulation isn’t part of what’s causing the credit crunch right now), and handouts for those who signed bad mortgages they can’t pay are all things that won’t address a single issue we’re facing, and could very well make things worse long term. This isn’t to say that Clinton or McCain are adequately addressing the problems in the economy right now (our uncompetitive corporate tax rates, the straight costs of doing business, etc), but Obama’s looking at sending us down a potentially hazardous path.

The speech in full is here, and the almost immediate praise of Alexander Hamilton should set off huge, huge warning flags to anyone with knowledge of Hamilton’s role in the formation of this country pre-Federalist papers. Economic populism like Obama’s spouting ends up benefiting no one except the person spouting it, and the worst economic situations that we’ve ended up in have, in part, stemmed from policies that grow from those areas. Obama should know better, but he, of course, does not. Example? “If we can extend a hand to banks on Wall Street, we can extend a hand to Americans who are struggling through no fault of their own,” was a line Obama put out there. Is he really taking the position that those who signed and initialed the 40-odd pages on their mortgages that they now can’t pay aren’t at fault? Really? Besides that, he’s on the opposite side of public opinion when it comes to the Dodd-style bailout program that Obama’s endorses, and that’s not even covering the fact that the rough draft we’re seeing probably won’t work. Mistake after mistake after mistake.

As a humorous aside, Obama went to a fundraising event, $1000 a plate, following the speech. Where was it held? Credit Suisse’s building, one of the top ten subprime lenders in the United States. Disconnect much?

* Children of Men as a television show? On one hand, the movie (which I thought was phenomenal) worked because it was a crazy ride through a bizarre setting, and didn’t let up. I’m not sure a serial television show will work quite the same way. On the other hand, one of the co-creators of the Battlestar Galactica reboot is behind it, so it’s likely worth a shot.

* More stupidity from Obama. The National Review notes the problems inherent in the IRS doing your taxes for you. I’ve probably had a more visceral negative reaction to this proposal than much else on Obama’s platform.

* Linked everywhere, a horrible b-movie waiting to happen comes to life in Mexico, as vigilantes storm cities and towns looking for emo kids to kill.

* The US media doesn’t have a huge presence in Iraq. Then we wonder why the negative stories are the ones that gain traction.

* What’s the proper response when people are leaving your state in part because of taxes and regulations? If the answer is “spend more money, and then propose to fill the gap via tax hikes and regulation,” your name must be Massachusetts. And Hillary Clinton wants to expand MassCare-style health planning nationwide?

* Finally, my new favorite blog? Photoshop Disasters, which is exactly what the name implies. My personal favorite examples? Lady Guenivere’s mutant hand and Imagine Watermarks.

Have a good weekend.

* Continuing with the sweet, sweet schadenfreude of the Spitzer crash, here’s a contrast between Keith Olbermann’s reaction to the New York Times non-story regarding John McCain and the lobbyist and Elliott Spitzer (Liz, you wanted to know why I’m not an Olbermann fan, here’s an example), and, just to show how detached some people are, FireDogLake being convinced that it’s just another Vast Right Wing Conspiracy. Riiiiight.

* David Freddoso at National Review talks more about the wage stagnation myth.

* It only took four years, but the New York Times finally starts asking some questions about Obama.

* Even though it’s from the Competitive Enterprise Institute - a group I’m not really huge on and one most of you would likely discount immediately - this list of the five dumbest product bans is interesting.

* We kept hearing over and over in 2000 and 2004 about preachers shilling for Bush from the pulpit and the tax ramifications. Why is Obama getting a free pass on this? The American Spectator has another piece on how Obama may have screwed one of his churches. I’ll say it again - our campaign laws are moronic, as are our tax laws. Fix them so we don’t have to worry about this sort of nonsense.

* I subscribed to The American Conservative for a while, but they’re pretty damn isolationist and tend to bring out the worst in American conservatism - then again, Pat Buchanan runs it, so why are we shocked? Then again, they are one of the few publications to present Barack Obama as a “warmonger,” and it’s worth highlighting. Sure, Obama might have a plan to get us out of - and then back into - Iraq, but it’s no guarantee that Obama’s foriegn policy is really going to change that much in terms of military action from our current situation. If anything, deciding to go and “meet” with every loony dictator this planet has to offer will probably create more opportunities, not less.

* Some new, peer-reviewed information putting current “consensus” thought on global warming in context. Short answer - these researchers may have figured out why the models never match up with the reality. It’ll be interesting to see if this gains any traction.

* In a good move, Samantha Power resigned last week after calling Hillary Clinton a “monster.” The problem with Power wasn’t the “monster” comment, it’s what she believes and her possible influence on Obama that makes her resignation a net gain for the Obama campaign. I don’t need to write a post only on her anymore, now that she’s gone, but her positions regarding Israeli influence and knee-jerk reactions to accurate reporting on Israel should have given Obama some serious pause. Israel’s far from perfect, but they’re also arguably one of our best allies.

* Outer space is CRAZY.

* Finally, I knew my memories weren’t decieving me: it IS possible to shoot that dog in Duck Hunt.

…let me show you it!

3737-9207-3750

Free wins!

Because I don’t have time for any other post (so much for catching up over the weekend) and yeah.

* Super Smash Bros. Brawl: I tried to largely avoid the hype on this one, and I’m kind of glad I did - if I had gotten as super excited about this game as it seems like every other Wii owner has, it would be a huge disappointment. Instead, it’s a nice, quality update to Melee, which is something I liked quite a bit. The controls are difficult with the Wiimote, and I may have to revert to a wired GameCube controller, but I can’t say the game isn’t fun, it’s just not unique. My one complaint is the story mode, which is disjointed and lacks any relatively coherent storyline. I loved the story mode in Melee, so this one is a bit of a disappointment, but whatever. I’m excited to try the online mode, even though Nintendo can’t seem to get the internets right - I’ll update this entry with my friend code tonight.

* Rainbow Six: Vegas: Hi folks, welcome to 2006. I know, I’ve never been interested in this, but Rick and Mark both were, and that was worth a $20 investment to hop in on some games. I find I’m somewhat proficient with a sniper rifle, but it’s hard for me not to go in with guns a-blazing like in…

* Team Fortress 2: …this, which has taken on a new life since grabbing it from Steam. New maps and harder matches have revitalized this one for me - I’ve now gone from one of the better players in player matches on 360 to a really horrid player on Steam. Go figure.

* D&D: The campaign continued on Saturday - the one frustrating aspect is that we spent about 45 minutes retrieving a wolf from when we got captured. This has the makings of a loooooong campaign - roughly 15 hours in and we’ve had two or three total battles, and we’re still kind of stuck. It’s fun, though, I’m enjoying myself, it’s just taking a while.

Non-political in nature.

1) Rock on, Red Sox. I’m a big Francona fan at this point - hell, he’s only 8-0 in the World Series - and I think he’s the best guy to run what is essentially a very difficult team in a very difficult market. This is where Rick chimes in with Francona’s record in Philly or the 2006 All-Injury All-Stars or something, but I don’t care much. 3 trips to the playoffs with 2 World Series trophies is enough for me to want to see him handed a blank check.

2) ABC plans to air the Wizard’s First Rule television series starting this fall. Talk about weird - the rumors of a television something based around Goodkind’s novels have been floating since at least 2005, and Sam Raimi got involved, and this is apparently a go - 22 episodes based on the first book in the series. I’m a little stunned by it, frankly, and I can’t imagine how they plan on translating what’s essentially 100 pages of S&M into a syndicated program (believe it or not, it’s somewhat important to the plot), but hey. I just hope with Raimi involved, it won’t be too cheesy, but fantasy on film can go so wrong so quickly…

3) So I ended up popping for Team Fortress 2 on PC so I could play with extra maps and not be monopolizing the television 24/7 when I need my fix. I have to say, while being able to use the 360 controller with it works wonders, I still suck. I’m usually pretty good on the 360 matches, but I’m just consistently destroyed by people on the PC. It’s crazy. I do need to get my headset to work better, though. The drivers didn’t make the mic pick up sound any easier, but I’ll figure it out.

More later on.

Good times. I have a ton of stuff piled up - I wish I could say I was busy this weekend, but I won’t lie - I spent most of it playing Blue Dragon. If you’re reading on the LJ side, I’m getting intermittent comment notifications, so if I haven’t replied to your comments from earlier, it’s because I only saw them about 20 minutes ago.

* The closest thing to zombies of late. Personally, I’d consider myself blessed in a few ways.

* The rumored number two porn collection in the world doesn’t actually exist. One less reason to visit Cambridge University, I suppose.

* Reason covers the Hugo Chavez disaster. To me, the Chavez situation continues to be one of the great disasters of the world currently - not nearly as bad as the situations in Africa and the Middle East, but a horrible situation that should really get more honest coverage.

* Attention, Democratic voters who subscribe to the “the world hates us because Bush’s diplomacy sucks” meme: claiming that a world leader lacks a soul isn’t going to repair that. And I don’t especially care if she’s right (because I’m inclined to believe she is) - that’s not how you deal with it.

* A fun link for video game fans, especially those with any fond memories of the Ultima series: The Many Deaths of Lord British.

* Larry Kudlow reminds us that if a recession really is coming, it ain’t there yet. Expect the media to continue to push the issue regardless, however - they haven’t been honest about the economy in years, so why start now?

* A great story about the guy who moved into a homeless shelter with $25, and came out a year later with an apartment and $5000 in cash.

* Cato demonstrates the reality surrounding part of Hillary Clinton’s health care plan. Oops!

* England floats a smoking permit. The mind reels.

* I hate the Dolphins because I’m a Patriots fan, but I’ve always liked Zach Thomas. He’s set to meet with the Pats this week, and the thought of it excites me to see him in a New England uniform.

* Sometime last year, you’ll remember a video circulating from 1994 about Dick Cheney’s position about war in Iraq. Namely, that he was against it for reasons many believe actually occurred during the last few years. Of course, it’ll be interesting to see people spin the video of Bill “I was always against the Administration’s war” Clinton making the case Bush should have made. Video here. If we did it right the first time, or if Clinton actually acted as he should have in 1998, it’d be very interesting to see where we’d be today, 10 years later.

* A great spring training prank by the Phillies.

Dunno if I’ll get another post out today, but who knows.

Because you should never blog about video games when you’re trying to finish the rest of your stuff to go and play one.

1) I’m very, very excited about Spore. Due 7 September, it’s the new Will Wright (SimCity, etc) project where you essentially start a civilization from scratch, eventually having it evolve to the point where you can explore other people’s worlds. I really hope it can live up to the hype.

2) EA retains the exclusive contract with the NFL until 2013. Sigh.

3) Electronic Gaming Monthly had a great piece (not online yet) about achievements and gamerscore on the XBox 360. One person profiled was a father who played 60 hours a week, obsessed with raising his gamerscore.

I personally love the achievement process on the 360 - it really increases replayability for me and it’s fun to try and do bizarre things to get achievements (my favorite so far is the one in Crackdown that requires you to keep a bad guy up in the air using a set number of rockets). But I also know that my 2500 gamerscore or whatever isn’t ever going to reach an upper echelon of scores, either. But wow, sometimes the gamerscore thing can get crazy.

1) Essentially, since Thanksgiving, I’ve been mired in a Team Fortress 2 addiction like none other. Not counting the time I’ve spent playing Portal or Half Life 2, I’ve probably spent between 80-85 hours playing TF2. The last time I hit a wall quite like this, it was Quake II and I was still in high school. I really do love the game, but my addiction is finally breaking…

2) …just to be replaced with Blue Dragon. I got into it a bit, then picked up TF2, and never looked back. Diving back in makes me realize how much I’d been itching for a good traditional RPG. The one annoyance is save points - I used to be in the camp that save points were nice quirks for games, but when it’s 11:45 at night and you just wanna go to bed, finding a save point in the middle of a flying fortress is terrible. Beyond that, though, the only other fault with Blue Dragon is that I’m not finding it to be incredibly challenging. I may be a wee bit overpowering due to some leveling I did lost in one cavern, but, I mean, whatever happened to Atma Weapon-type bosses that could still kick ass and take names if you weren’t strategic with your choices regardless of your strength?

3) I tried Heavenly Sword at Target a few weeks ago. Frankly, the one thing that might have convinced me to get a PS3 was hugely disappointing (mmm, hack and slash), and I’m glad I don’t have to think about it anymore.

4) Lost Odyssey comes out today. Right now, I’m telling myself to finish Blue Dragon and Eternal Sonata, minimum, before diving into a new RPG. Because at some point, I’ll need to play Enchanted Arms and Dead Rising, too.

5) Of course, all of this means poor Super Mario Galaxy is being tossed aside for my gaming time. Which is sad - I like the game a lot! There’s something super-annoying about the fact that the game e-mails me, though. Grr.

That’s all for now, I think. I could go on, but my head hurts.