Note to self: Write scholarly article about the works of Pauly Shore and how he is a Shakespearean tragic hero.
Other note to self: You wrote this completely sober.
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Friday, April 18, 2008
Mortal Kombat vs. DCU, and Rock Band Albums
So the new Mortal Kombat game has been revealed, and like promised, it looks like an April Fool's Joke.
Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe.
Yes, that picture does have Sub-Zero staring down Batman. Yes, this is a real game.
Is this a must purchase for my 360 or potential PS3? Almost.
I'm a closet Mortal Kombat fan (although I really prefer MKII because of its simplicity) and I love the DC Animated Universe so this is pretty much a must-watch if not a must-buy.
For any interested parties, check out the Gamespot Preview.
~~~
In other news, Judas Priest's Screaming for Vengeance was announced as the first full length album to be released on Rock Band. Disappointed as I am that its not Who's Next or Nevermind, there was some other cool news that came out in the announcement. The Pixies' Debaser is going to come out on Rock Band in May or June, and the Pixies are weird and awesome.
~~~
I'm excited for Weezer's forthcoming Red Album (All self-titled colored Weezer albums are good. It's a rule) but Rivers Cuomo dismays me with this quote on Rock Band and Guitar Hero:
“I don’t get those games at all. I mean, I haven’t tried them. But they must be fun because people love them. But, to me, it seems like if you’re going to put that much effort into playing something, you should just play a real instrument [laughs].”
Whatever, as long as the entire Blue Album winds up on Rock Band...and maybe Hash Pipe or Dope Nose or something funny like that.
Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe.
Yes, that picture does have Sub-Zero staring down Batman. Yes, this is a real game.
Is this a must purchase for my 360 or potential PS3? Almost.
I'm a closet Mortal Kombat fan (although I really prefer MKII because of its simplicity) and I love the DC Animated Universe so this is pretty much a must-watch if not a must-buy.
For any interested parties, check out the Gamespot Preview.
~~~
In other news, Judas Priest's Screaming for Vengeance was announced as the first full length album to be released on Rock Band. Disappointed as I am that its not Who's Next or Nevermind, there was some other cool news that came out in the announcement. The Pixies' Debaser is going to come out on Rock Band in May or June, and the Pixies are weird and awesome.
~~~
I'm excited for Weezer's forthcoming Red Album (All self-titled colored Weezer albums are good. It's a rule) but Rivers Cuomo dismays me with this quote on Rock Band and Guitar Hero:
“I don’t get those games at all. I mean, I haven’t tried them. But they must be fun because people love them. But, to me, it seems like if you’re going to put that much effort into playing something, you should just play a real instrument [laughs].”
Whatever, as long as the entire Blue Album winds up on Rock Band...and maybe Hash Pipe or Dope Nose or something funny like that.
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Fall Semester 2008 - 19 Credits of FUCK ME!
After a 4 semesters of 15 credit nonsense, I've realized that college is fucking stupid.
To me, 5 classes a semester is fine. However, if you do the math, 5 classes a semester at WPU (including the two extra credits for lab science and the credit and a half First Year Seminar) for four years will only net you 123.5 credits when 128 credits is necessary for graduating.
No wonder people take 4+ years to graduate.
So, in an effort to head off this growing challenge of snagging a degree by May 2010, I'm taking 6 classes valued at 19 credits next semester. Let's look at them and gauge my excitement.
Some Bullshit Literarture Class
MW 9:30-10:45
In all honesty, I don't know what era this class covers. I need to take some lit classes and this professor is supposedly easy.
Creative Non-Fiction
MW 2-3:15
It's with the guy who heads the Honors track I'm doing (Performing and Literary Arts), so that's pretty (Kevin) boss. I've also heard it is a good class, so that is also boss (Bailey).
Acting I
Tuesday Night sometime
Fuck, I thought I was done with bullshit acting classes. If I have to write a fucking paper in this class, I'm gonna kill.
But anyway, its with a good professor and I need to take it for the aforementioned Honors track.
Screenwriting
Wednesday 11-1:40
Honestly, I'm looking forward to this class. I've been wanting to take a screenwriting class for a long time.
Here's where it gets lame...
Geology
TR 11-12:15
R 2-4:40
Yay, rocks! This is the only fucking science class that fits into my schedule. I fucking hate science classes. Fuck.
Fuck.
Easiest Math I Can Take And Still Get Credit For
Online
And the 19 credit kicker is this stupid fucking class. Fuck, I hate this shit. I don't wanna take 6 classes.
Whatever, I don't really have that much to do anyway. I should stop complaining. I have Fridays off and I'm taking some classes I'm into.
At least my GPA's still something like 3.2 and only getting higher.
I believe I've had a steady curve upwards every semester (2.7->3.0->3.2->3.3?)
To me, 5 classes a semester is fine. However, if you do the math, 5 classes a semester at WPU (including the two extra credits for lab science and the credit and a half First Year Seminar) for four years will only net you 123.5 credits when 128 credits is necessary for graduating.
No wonder people take 4+ years to graduate.
So, in an effort to head off this growing challenge of snagging a degree by May 2010, I'm taking 6 classes valued at 19 credits next semester. Let's look at them and gauge my excitement.
Some Bullshit Literarture Class
MW 9:30-10:45
In all honesty, I don't know what era this class covers. I need to take some lit classes and this professor is supposedly easy.
Creative Non-Fiction
MW 2-3:15
It's with the guy who heads the Honors track I'm doing (Performing and Literary Arts), so that's pretty (Kevin) boss. I've also heard it is a good class, so that is also boss (Bailey).
Acting I
Tuesday Night sometime
Fuck, I thought I was done with bullshit acting classes. If I have to write a fucking paper in this class, I'm gonna kill.
But anyway, its with a good professor and I need to take it for the aforementioned Honors track.
Screenwriting
Wednesday 11-1:40
Honestly, I'm looking forward to this class. I've been wanting to take a screenwriting class for a long time.
Here's where it gets lame...
Geology
TR 11-12:15
R 2-4:40
Yay, rocks! This is the only fucking science class that fits into my schedule. I fucking hate science classes. Fuck.
Fuck.
Easiest Math I Can Take And Still Get Credit For
Online
And the 19 credit kicker is this stupid fucking class. Fuck, I hate this shit. I don't wanna take 6 classes.
Whatever, I don't really have that much to do anyway. I should stop complaining. I have Fridays off and I'm taking some classes I'm into.
At least my GPA's still something like 3.2 and only getting higher.
I believe I've had a steady curve upwards every semester (2.7->3.0->3.2->3.3?)
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
To My Niece
Foreword: To celebrate the birth of my niece, Haley Susan Ronaghan, I decided to write a letter to her to detail the day of her birth and some other things.
Hey Haley,
Your name has some good alliteration potential to it. Like I just wrote before, "Hey Haley" kind of rolls off the tongue. I like your name. It's pretty pretty. Props to your parents. I don't know whether it was your mom or dad who came up with it but, and this is just a guess, it might be your dad because I've known him to be good with names. Albeit most of the names I remember him coming up with were a hodgepodge of rock stars and baseball players that he used when we played wiffleball when we were younger.
You might notice I have a tendency to ramble and by the time you can actually comprehend this, you'll probably know firsthand. If you like the rambling, cool. If you don't, I'm sorry, this will probably drone on and jump from subject to another. Now onto another subject!
Today is the day of your birth, a mere 20 years and 2 weeks after I was born. It was a humid on-and-off rainy day. The Yankees played their first game of the 2008 season, which is the last season at Old Yankee Stadium but I'm sure you know that already as your dad will probably have told you. In case you forget, the Yanks beat the Toronto Blue Jays 3-2. The March Madness NCAA tournaments are almost done. Tonight in Women's Basketball, Tennesee beat Texas A&M and Connecticut beat Rutgers and the winners made it to the Final Four. In Men's Basketball, it was the first year that all four #1 seeds made it the Final Four. I'm scoping out different news outlets on the internet to see if anything else cool happened. There probably have been other cool things and I'm sorry I missed them.
I got the call from your grandma at 8:15 PM tonight. She was really excited and I heard your grandpa calling people in the background. You brought about quite a stir as most new babies do. I was eating tacos at Baja Fresh with my girlfriend, Lauren, and my friend, Dan, when the call came. I wonder if you'll like tacos or Mexican food in general. I hope you do. There's this cool Mexican place in New Hope, PA (across the river from where your Aunt Jill and Uncle Miles live) called El Taco Loco. Make a note of it. There's another Mexican place there, but I find its absurdly overpriced.
I have to thank you because your birth saved me about $15. I was planning on walking over to the Gamestop near Baja Fresh and buying Sonic Gems Collection for Gamecube because I've been on a Sonic the Hedgehog kick lately. Thanks to you, I saved money. I'll make sure I use that money wisely and perhaps use it to spoil you at some point. Remind me of that and I'll take you to a movie or something cool.
As of this moment, I am watching the Graduate (good movie, we should totally watch it when you're older) in my college dorm at William Paterson University in Wayne, NJ. I am in my second year here and I'm majoring in English and minoring in Philosophy. I recently got a volunteer job at Nintendo World Report. It's an independent Nintendo site. I'm really excited about it and I just posted my first review there recently. If you can't tell by now, your uncle is an unapologetic big nerd. I'd like to think this will hopefully score me some cool points when you get older.
As of this moment, I haven't seen you. I really want to. Your dad just sent me pictures of you. You're the cutest baby I've seen to this day, although there's a considerable amount of bias in that since you're my brother's daughter. I can't wait to meet you. I'm going to try my hardest to be the best uncle I can. I hope you won't notice by the time this makes sense to you, but I am very nervous that I won't be able to meet the standards of uncledom. I've never met you and I already love and care about you very much. I can't wait to watch you grow up. Thinking of you growing up makes me not be afraid of growing up. My childhood is coming to a close while yours is beginning. It seems almost fitting that I turned 20 two weeks ago and now you are born.
As much as I can't wait to see you, I wish you could meet your Aunt Aislinn soon. She's off in Bellingham, Washington working at Western Washington University at the Rec Center there. She's got the same alliteration in the name you'll call her that you have in "Hey Haley". I think you'll like her and I hope you two get to spend time together at some point.
I'm running out of things to say, kid. This probably won't happen often because I tend to talk a lot about things no one cares about besides me. I'll end this by saying a few things that I think are the most important things I could say to you: As your uncle, I will always be here for you whenever you need me, if you need me. I love you very much.
Love,
Your Uncle Neal
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
End of an Era (Kind of...)
I might not be posting in this sucker as much as I kind of sort of possibly used to. I've had good times with this blog (or as I prefer to call it, the place where I talk about shit that I want to talk about for an audience of about three) and I think I'm going to calling it temporary quits for a while for one reason.
That reason being, I got a job at Nintendo World Report as a Staff News Writer and thus most of my video game writing focus will be there and not here. And while I advertise this as my thoughts on video games, movies and music, we all know that this is just an overblown venue for me to talk about video games and occasionally mention 311, Murder by Death, Rushmore and TMNT. I'm sure I'll return to talk about movies and/or music and talk about video games outside the realm of Nintendo, but most of my focus will shift from aimless internet wandering to focused internet wandering for the sake of a legitimate position.
Thanks to all my loyal readers (if you exist) and...who the fuck am I kidding? I'll probably post something in mid-April when Leatherheads and Forgetting Sarah Marshall come out. And there might be a new Weezer album sometime soon that I could mention and talk about how all I really like by them is the Blue Album and a smattering of songs from everything else.
Random aside: I saw this video of the Bloodhound Gang at a live show combining the Sweater Song by Weezer with Wu Tang Clan Ain't Nothing to Fuck With. It's pretty solid.
That reason being, I got a job at Nintendo World Report as a Staff News Writer and thus most of my video game writing focus will be there and not here. And while I advertise this as my thoughts on video games, movies and music, we all know that this is just an overblown venue for me to talk about video games and occasionally mention 311, Murder by Death, Rushmore and TMNT. I'm sure I'll return to talk about movies and/or music and talk about video games outside the realm of Nintendo, but most of my focus will shift from aimless internet wandering to focused internet wandering for the sake of a legitimate position.
Thanks to all my loyal readers (if you exist) and...who the fuck am I kidding? I'll probably post something in mid-April when Leatherheads and Forgetting Sarah Marshall come out. And there might be a new Weezer album sometime soon that I could mention and talk about how all I really like by them is the Blue Album and a smattering of songs from everything else.
Random aside: I saw this video of the Bloodhound Gang at a live show combining the Sweater Song by Weezer with Wu Tang Clan Ain't Nothing to Fuck With. It's pretty solid.
Friday, March 7, 2008
I've Got Nothing
Another missed day...
Sorry loyal readers, but I had an emotional day and well, shit I just plum didn't have much to say.
~~~
Favre's retirement press conference *tear*
~~~~
I'm almost done with Kirby 64. The game is a lot better than I remember it and I'm glad I had my impulsive Kirby buy. I might try to burn through it tonight and maybe even buy Kirby's Adventure with the 500 Wii Points sitting around on my Wii.
~~~~~
I demand Brawl comes out now!
I really want to play this game...
~~~~~~
I was right, I ain't got shit to say today.
Sorry loyal readers, but I had an emotional day and well, shit I just plum didn't have much to say.
~~~
Favre's retirement press conference *tear*
~~~~
I'm almost done with Kirby 64. The game is a lot better than I remember it and I'm glad I had my impulsive Kirby buy. I might try to burn through it tonight and maybe even buy Kirby's Adventure with the 500 Wii Points sitting around on my Wii.
~~~~~
I demand Brawl comes out now!
I really want to play this game...
~~~~~~
I was right, I ain't got shit to say today.
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
Rock Band Downloadable Content Analysis
So, in the bastard son follow up of my Virtual Console article, I am now doing the 'Rock Band DLC' article that I mentioned.
Here is the list of all the songs I have on Rock Band...by year (I had to have some way of differentiating them. Also, I have a very boring job, so this kills a lot of time)
* represents cover
1960s (1)
"Last Train to Clarksville" by the Monkees*
1970s (29)
"N.I.B." by Black Sabbath*
"Sweet Leaf" by Black Sabbath*
"War Pigs" by Black Sabbath*
"Hitch A Ride" by Boston
"More Than A Feeling" by Boston
"Peace of Mind" by Boston
"Rock & Roll Band" by Boston
"Smokin'" by Boston
"Something About You" by Boston
"Ever Fallen In Love?" by the Buzzcocks*
"Complete Control" by the Clash
"I Fought the Law" by the Clash
"Fortunate Son" by Creedence Clearwater Revival*
"Heroes" by David Bowie*
"Moonage Daydream" by David Bowie
"Queen Bitch" by David Bowie*
"Casey Jones" by the Grateful Dead
"Sugar Magnolia" by the Grateful Dead
"Cheeseburger in Paradise" by Jimmy Buffet
"Margaritaville" by Jimmy Buffet
"Volcano" by Jimmy Buffet
"My Sharona" by the Knack*
"Can't Stand Losing You" by the Police
"Message in a Bottle" by the Police
"Roxanne" by the Police
"Teenage Lobotomy" by the Ramones
"Working Man" by Rush*
"Action" by Sweet*
"Bang A Gong (Get It On) by T. Rex*
1980s (20)
"Call Me" by Blondie
"Roam" by the B-52s
"Jukebox Hero" by Foreigner*
"The Number of the Beast" by Iron Maiden*
"Crackity Jones" by the Pixies
"Dead" by the Pixies
"Debaser" by the Pixies
"Gouge Away" by the Pixies
"Here Comes Your Man" by the Pixies
"Hey" by the Pixies
"I Bleed" by the Pixies
"La La Love You" by the Pixies
"Monkey Gone to Heaven" by the Pixies
"Mr. Grieves" by the Pixies
"No. 13 Baby" by the Pixies
"Silver" by the Pixies
"Tame" by the Pixies
"There Goes My Gun" by the Pixies
"Synchronicity II" by the Police
"Limelight" by Rush*
1990s (10)
"All The Small Things" by Blink-182
"Don't Look Back in Anger" by Oasis
"Wonderwall" by Oasis
"My Iron Lung" by Radiohead
"Siva" by the Smashing Pumpkins
"Zero" by the Smashing Pumpkins
"Interstate Love Song" by the Stone Temple Pilots
"Sex Type Thing" by the Stone Temple Pilots
"Buddy Holly" by Weezer
"El Scorcho" by Weezer
2000s (18)
"Attack" by 30 Seconds To Mars
"The Kill" by 30 Seconds to Mars
"Dirty Little Secret" by the All-American Rejects
"Move Along" by the All-American Rejects
"Rock Rebellion" by Bang Camaro
"Ten Speed (Of God's Blood and Burial) by Coheed and Cambria*
"Shake" by Count Zero
"Sprode" by Freezepop
"Still Alive" by GLaDOS
"Hysteria" by Muse
"3's and 7's" by Queens of the Stone Age
"Little Sister" by Queens of the Stone Age
"Sick Sick Sick" by Queens of the Stone Age
"Song With A Mission" by the Sounds*
"Dreamin'" by Weezer
"The Greatest Man That Ever Lived" by Weezer
"Troublemaker" by Weezer
"Joker and the Thief" by Wolfmother
I have a grand total of 78 downloadable songs. That means that, for all of Rock Band, I have spent over $300.
I spend a lot of money on video games.
Top 5 DLC Songs
1. "Moonage Daydream" by David Bowie
2. "Action" by Sweet
3. "Working Man" by Rush
4. "The Number of the Beast" by Iron Maiden
5. "Sprode" by Freezepop
Honorable Mentions: "Joker and the Thief" by Wolfmother, "Buddy Holly" by Weezer, "El Scorcho" by Weezer, "My Iron Lung" by Radiohead, "Limelight" by Rush, "Synchronicity II" by the Police, "More Than A Feeling" by Boston
Favorite Song By Instrument
Guitar: "Moonage Daydream" by David Bowie and "Joker and the Thief" by Wolfmother
Bass: "N.I.B." by Black Sabbath
Drums: "Action" by Sweet
Vocals: "Ever Fallen In Love?" by the Buzzcocks and "Moonage Daydream" by David Bowie
UPDATED 3/26: Added Boston Pack
UPDATED 7/1: Added everything I bought recently
Here is the list of all the songs I have on Rock Band...by year (I had to have some way of differentiating them. Also, I have a very boring job, so this kills a lot of time)
* represents cover
1960s (1)
"Last Train to Clarksville" by the Monkees*
1970s (29)
"N.I.B." by Black Sabbath*
"Sweet Leaf" by Black Sabbath*
"War Pigs" by Black Sabbath*
"Hitch A Ride" by Boston
"More Than A Feeling" by Boston
"Peace of Mind" by Boston
"Rock & Roll Band" by Boston
"Smokin'" by Boston
"Something About You" by Boston
"Ever Fallen In Love?" by the Buzzcocks*
"Complete Control" by the Clash
"I Fought the Law" by the Clash
"Fortunate Son" by Creedence Clearwater Revival*
"Heroes" by David Bowie*
"Moonage Daydream" by David Bowie
"Queen Bitch" by David Bowie*
"Casey Jones" by the Grateful Dead
"Sugar Magnolia" by the Grateful Dead
"Cheeseburger in Paradise" by Jimmy Buffet
"Margaritaville" by Jimmy Buffet
"Volcano" by Jimmy Buffet
"My Sharona" by the Knack*
"Can't Stand Losing You" by the Police
"Message in a Bottle" by the Police
"Roxanne" by the Police
"Teenage Lobotomy" by the Ramones
"Working Man" by Rush*
"Action" by Sweet*
"Bang A Gong (Get It On) by T. Rex*
1980s (20)
"Call Me" by Blondie
"Roam" by the B-52s
"Jukebox Hero" by Foreigner*
"The Number of the Beast" by Iron Maiden*
"Crackity Jones" by the Pixies
"Dead" by the Pixies
"Debaser" by the Pixies
"Gouge Away" by the Pixies
"Here Comes Your Man" by the Pixies
"Hey" by the Pixies
"I Bleed" by the Pixies
"La La Love You" by the Pixies
"Monkey Gone to Heaven" by the Pixies
"Mr. Grieves" by the Pixies
"No. 13 Baby" by the Pixies
"Silver" by the Pixies
"Tame" by the Pixies
"There Goes My Gun" by the Pixies
"Synchronicity II" by the Police
"Limelight" by Rush*
1990s (10)
"All The Small Things" by Blink-182
"Don't Look Back in Anger" by Oasis
"Wonderwall" by Oasis
"My Iron Lung" by Radiohead
"Siva" by the Smashing Pumpkins
"Zero" by the Smashing Pumpkins
"Interstate Love Song" by the Stone Temple Pilots
"Sex Type Thing" by the Stone Temple Pilots
"Buddy Holly" by Weezer
"El Scorcho" by Weezer
2000s (18)
"Attack" by 30 Seconds To Mars
"The Kill" by 30 Seconds to Mars
"Dirty Little Secret" by the All-American Rejects
"Move Along" by the All-American Rejects
"Rock Rebellion" by Bang Camaro
"Ten Speed (Of God's Blood and Burial) by Coheed and Cambria*
"Shake" by Count Zero
"Sprode" by Freezepop
"Still Alive" by GLaDOS
"Hysteria" by Muse
"3's and 7's" by Queens of the Stone Age
"Little Sister" by Queens of the Stone Age
"Sick Sick Sick" by Queens of the Stone Age
"Song With A Mission" by the Sounds*
"Dreamin'" by Weezer
"The Greatest Man That Ever Lived" by Weezer
"Troublemaker" by Weezer
"Joker and the Thief" by Wolfmother
I have a grand total of 78 downloadable songs. That means that, for all of Rock Band, I have spent over $300.
I spend a lot of money on video games.
Top 5 DLC Songs
1. "Moonage Daydream" by David Bowie
2. "Action" by Sweet
3. "Working Man" by Rush
4. "The Number of the Beast" by Iron Maiden
5. "Sprode" by Freezepop
Honorable Mentions: "Joker and the Thief" by Wolfmother, "Buddy Holly" by Weezer, "El Scorcho" by Weezer, "My Iron Lung" by Radiohead, "Limelight" by Rush, "Synchronicity II" by the Police, "More Than A Feeling" by Boston
Favorite Song By Instrument
Guitar: "Moonage Daydream" by David Bowie and "Joker and the Thief" by Wolfmother
Bass: "N.I.B." by Black Sabbath
Drums: "Action" by Sweet
Vocals: "Ever Fallen In Love?" by the Buzzcocks and "Moonage Daydream" by David Bowie
UPDATED 3/26: Added Boston Pack
UPDATED 7/1: Added everything I bought recently
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