Seriously, I can't keep up

I stopped following music in August and I find myself with a plethora of things to listen to. I can't believe Bloc Party, Jenny Lewis, TV on the Radio, and Of Montreal released(or will be releasing)albums. The Of Montreal and TOTR albums are really, really good. Bloc Party and Jenny Lewis, meh. I'm also digging the new Rosebuds which is better than their last album. Deerhoof I haven't listened to the whole thing, but I like what I heard so far. Ladyhawke is sick groove shit. The new Streets, hit and miss. Veronica Maggio is some Swedish pop and I'm a big fan of that kinda music. Woman, I think they're new. That's a cool album too. I guess I don't have much to say because I haven't given everything I've mentioned a deep listen with the exception of TOTR and Of Montreal because I liked those albums instantly. I'm surprised I like the Of Montreal so much because I hated on their last album "Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer?" mainly because I don't think they progressed from "Satanic Panic in the Attic." "Skeletal Lamping" is the last two albums, but super funky. The songs sound like collections of multiple songs, like it doesn't stay in the same place for too long which is a downside at times because you become interested in a certain melody, and you want to hear more, but they abruptly move onto something else. It's okay those because they move on, and you get stuck on whatever new tangent they're on.

Anyway all this stuff has reinvigorated me. I'm actually listening to more music at work than podcasts when just last week, I couldn't be bothered with music. Maybe the shows I'm listening to just have been boring of late, I don't know. The new music is just really good I guess. I listened to "In Rainbows" again. I'm not sick of it yet. I was playing with the idea that it might be my favorite Radiohead record, but saying that feels blasphemous to those popular choices for best Radiohead record(OK, Kid, Amnesiac, throw the Bends in there). I don't know. Rainbows is good man. I can't justify it any better at the moment, so I lose. After that I listened to "You Forgot it in People" by Broken Social Scene because I wanted to see if I really like BSS more than Radiohead. The conclusion I came to was: don't make me choose. YFIIP is timeless for me. We all need to go see BSS live. Go Canadia!

It just sucks I can't keep up with everything. I want to start reading hardcore again. I'm reading Watchmen right now, but very slowly. The busy video game season is about to start too so I don't know how I'm going to get to all of these things. Sucks too because I don't have my own TV to play on so I haven't been playing much lately. Only when Andrea's not around. What are you guys reading/listening/playing/watching?

Obama/McCain III

In response to a message board post proclaiming McCain knocked out Obama.

I totally disagree. I don't think it was a total KO. McCain kicked Obama's ass for the first 30 minutes. McCain was on the offense and kept bringing up flaws in Obama's policies which kept Obama on the defensive and that made him look so weak. After that however Obama settled down and McCain kinda screwed up by kinda doing what Palin did and he avoided answering questions. He brought up that Bill Ayers shit out of nowhere and kept bringing it up. Obama tried to maintain the clean campaign image, but again lost control and he eventually explained himself. He did do a good fucking job totally disconnecting himself from Ayers, but I already knew that was some made up Palin bullshit(what isn't?). I also thought it was awesome for McCain to strike back at Obama for relating him to Bush. "I am not President Bush. If you want to run a campaign against Bush, you should have done that four years ago." Great line. Whether or not it's true...but great line nonetheless.

The one part that stuck out in my mind was when they talked about Roe v Wade and they were asked about whether or not they would elect judges based on their ideas and beliefs. I was sorta impressed with McCain's response, that he wants the most qualified people and wouldn't elect someone just because they felt like he did. That was all well and good UNTIL he slipped this line in at the very end. Something like, "Someone who believes in Roe v Wade is obviously NOT qualified." Just like that, throw out everything you just said Skeletor.

I still think Obama did better. He answered the questions as best he could and didn't sink to McCain's level by using unnecessary attacks. However, even if people say they want to hear the issues, it's not true. I don't have that much faith in America. People watch politics for scandal, for hate messages, etc. so I McCain did what he had to do. He rallied his supporters for sure. Obama, despite looking weak at times, he never fired back with cheap shots, and I hope that people see how fucking awesome that was.

Chapter Six up and running

I posted chapter six over at Collective Balderdash, but I am not too happy with how it ends so that last part is mad tentative until I come up with something better. If you haven't caught up, read the first five chapters by clicking on the "untitled novel project" link in the tags section.

Chapter 6 here.

excerpt:

"Mullin was cute," Monica said. "I remember Mullin."

"They've been sucking lately, " Ivan said. "I haven't paid attention though, really."

"They still suck, I guess," Clark mumbled but with a hidden electricity. "It's just part of the deal when you root for a team like that."

"What do you mean," Ivan queried.

"Like, it's just part of the culture to be a Warriors fan. We haven't made the playoffs since '94 and the last time they won a world title I wasn't even born yet. It's like rooting for Wile E. Coyote."

"Wile E. never gets The Roadrunner, right?" Ivan asked. "You're talking about him right? Not some new band or new Marxist rebel?"

"Yeah, that's the coyote," Clark answered. "That's the guy. He comes up with these ideas and they seem plausible and realistic -- at least in the world of cartoons -- but either the Roadrunner is too good or we fuck it up because that's what we do. I mean, the guy can probably look for easier prey. I can move on to rooting for another team or choosing favorite players or even just watch basketball as a neutral party. But I don't and he doesn't. You go in knowing that the odds aren't necessarily with you, that the past is more of an indication of what will happen because let's face it, as much as we learn from the past it's not really a lack of imagination that hurts us but the execution.

So I come back every year to root for this godawful team and every year I remain optimistic and every stupid year I end up rolling my eyes halfway through the season. It's this blind hope that someday we can make it, and I will not be one of those bandwagon douches that come out of the woodwork, I will be there from the insufferable and intolerable days to see us finally get the Roadrunner and it will feel better than just latching on, because the suffering is what makes everything afterward satisfying."

The third quarter had started. Monica picked up her cup of coffee, her hand slightly jerking and shaky. It was not blatantly noticeable. It was a shake one would have after a hangover from heavy drinking. Clark pretended like he didn't notice, but he couldn't discard the image from his mind. He tried watching the game. All he saw was ten men in a rectangular stage throwing the ball around.

offtopic:

• Banksy's Pet Store and Charcoal Grill (open until Oct. 31 in NY)
• Awesome, awesome NYMag article on projection stat deity and inventor of PECOTA, Nate Silver of FiveThirtyEight and BaseballProspectus
• new Madlib for download "Beat Konducta v6- Dil Withers Suite": http://sharebee.com/e792827e
  

Mega Man 9

If you noticed, I didn't post a review of Mega Man 9 last week. Mostly because I played Rock Band 2 instead because Mega Man 9 is very hard. However I feel great joy when I play the 9th installment of the classic Capcom action platformer. To be honest I haven't touched an original Mega Man game since 1990 and Mega Man 3. I really had no desire to play a Mega Man game and fortunately the best of the series(2 and 3)were behind me. To come back to the series again after 18 years, it just brings me back to the days of only having one game to play on your console, and you had no choice but to play the fuck out of the game, and get really good. This concept is critical if you want to really enjoy Mega Man 9.

If you've played a MM game before you probably won't have any trouble learning how to play MM9. You run, you jump, and you shoot. There are 8 Robot Masters that need smashing, then after you defeat each one you gain their weapons. Overall, the weapons were kind of disappointing. I only found myself using 2 or 3 weapons regularly(of course, against the bosses I would use the weapon of choice), but the other weapons were either too slow to fire(Magma Man), or I didn't really have use for the weapon because of it's pattern(Plug Man). Rush, your trusty robot dog, returns as well to help you jump higher or fly over parts of the level if you choose to use him. They changed the way the Rush Jet flies though. Before, you had complete control and could fly him in any direction. Now he goes automatically in the direction he's facing, and you can only control his vertical movement which kind of sucks when your trying to fly through tight spaces, but I guess they did that to make it a little more challenging.

It's all about memorization and pixel perfect jumping. Some people like to belittle the fact that all you have to do is memorize the stages, and finish levels is a snap. I don't think it's that easy. You can know what's coming, but you still have to execute. The feeling you get once you finish a level is so much jubilation because it's so satisfying to hit your jumps that you had trouble with just a few minutes earlier. It's funny because I don't remember struggling this much with a Mega Man game other than the first one, so I walked into this feeling all cocky. However playing MM9 made me remember that it wasn't always easy, and I played a lot of 2 and 3 before they became like second nature. Plus I didn't have that jumping glitch that made MM3 a fucking cakewalk.

The look of the game was quite a risk for Capcom as well. It seems to have divided Mega Man fans because the developers decided to use NES technology and create a brand new game, but with 8-bit graphics and sound. This was an outrage to some people. With the way games are now, why would you go back and use old technology? Imagine how great a current generation Mega Man game would look. They(the four people that made this game at Capcom) chose retro over current gen for fans like me. They knew that seeing an NES style Blue Bomber, mouth wide open while jumping, would appeal to old school gamers like myself. I won't even talk about the music though because no game, Mega Man or not, will ever touch Mega Man 2. If you're a graphics whore like Dibsy(he hated Mario Galaxy, what's wrong with him?) then you probably won't tolerate this game.

Mega Man 9 is total fan service, simple as that. The controls are still tight, the action is great, and Capcom has been on a roll farming out their classic franchises like Bionic Commando and Street Fighter. They seem to be doing right though unlike other game developers. They're not just doing complete re-hashes, but rather they're adding something new, whether it be new graphics or a completely new game. I would only recommend this game to fans of the series. Otherwise you'll probably try one stage and say, "Why would I want to subject myself to this?" It hurts so good. That's how I feel anyway.

i don't do much but i did this during the weekend

yeah life sucks right now..

Source

Google Search 2001 brings fruitful results

In honor of Google's 10th anniversary, they have opened up an index of search results from 2001.

So I search dskwad and I get this.

Re: Memory Game(and I forgot the N)

In my family, I don't really have anyone my age. All of my cousins are either my brothers age or my sister's age so I was a dork and too cool at the same time. My cousin Jane however, is only two years older than me, and I used to admire her deeply. She's attractive, sweet, very social, but what I admired about her most was the fact that she was a pack rat. I don't know if she is still like that, but she had shelves full of Polly Pockets, multiple photo books, empty cans of soda, sunglasses, CD's...just a fuck ton of stuff always covered in a shade of pink. I think it was from the sun reflecting off of the pink blinds in her window. Hanging out with her wasn't so bad. She's older than me, plus she's a woman so add some more maturity points. She didn't treat me like a runt, so I clung to her during those long weekends where the NorCal Baello clan joined the SoCal Baello clan for whatever birthday or holiday it was. I could talk to her about the girls I liked which was awesome cause I got protips, you know. I haven't spoken to her in years. She got knocked up before wedlock and had another kid with the baby daddy last time I heard from her.

Did you know that I totally skipped the 2000 NFL season? The year the Ravens won? I have no fucking clue why I skipped it. It might have had something to do with the fact that my father's life was reaching it's conclusion, and I guess I couldn't have been bothered with football. I don't totally believe that though because I do remember buying Grandia II for the Dreamcast Christmas Eve. Two days before my dad would pass. I remember nothing of that football season, and I find myself bullshit about watching one of the greatest defenses in history. "Oh yeah, they were so tough...yeah...Ray Lewis..." Holy shit this was before they split into four divisions. The Dolphins went 11-5 in the East beating out the Colts for the division? Poor Bears. They went 5-11, but that was B.F.(Before Forty). I really don't understand why I skipped football that year especially after watching the Titans miss greatness by a yard at Drok's place.

(I wanted to link to that famous play at the end of Super Bowl XXXIV, but YouTube is linking to the Korean version of YouTube. What?)

Anyway I remember every Super Bowl before and after that. I mean the Bowls following 2000 were pretty epic games. Tom Brady's first thrilling victory, the Bucs shocking everyone(I blame Barrett Robbins lol, not really), etc.

I'm pretty sure no one really cares, but I still haven't finished Mega Man 9. It's hard to get gaming time in because I'm still sharing a TV because my apartment is still flooding because my landlord is a cheap bastard. I wish he would die slowly and painfully, but I don't want to get into that. The point is I really want to do timely reviews. I would like to get into video game reporting so I need to practice writing reviews and covering the industry, but shit I can't review a game I haven't finished nor do I want to. I'm so close to finishing it, but the only time I get to play is when Andrea goes to sleep which fluctuates. Plus if I play games too late I can't sleep and I don't want to start abusing sleeping meds again. Anyway, I will finish the game this week. There will be a review this week. I will say about the game: If you loved Mega Man 2 and 3 this game is obviously for you.

RE: I forgot the N

Dudes, I typed the address wrong and it said our blog didn't exist and I was going to cry. Cursed long address. I really don't want to change it now that we actually have a crew and it's pretty fucking active so I don't want to lose that momentum.

RE: The reunion

The only reason I would go is so I could retain some spank bank data. Depending on how drunk I would have gotten I might have just masterbated in the bathroom so I could be done with it. Otherwise fuck those guys.
Discuss.

so how was the 10-year reunion?

By all facebook pic accounts it looked like a blast. Apparently Arnel gave a shout-out to everyone?

Memory Game

So last night, because I am a wild and crazy guy[/sarcasm], I tried to remember all the Super Bowls chronologically backwards without the help of the internet. I was actually pretty accurate until it got to about 1983 where I didn't know the Redskins played the Dolphins (and I mixed up the Ravens/Giants and the Titans/Rams).

When I was younger I was dragged along with my parents to my mom's cousin's place in Daly City. I must have been a pre-teen, but a post-single-digit adolescent. They had a daughter who, later on in high school, ran away from home with a druggie boyfriend. In these halcyon days of innocence and boners you didn't know what to do with, I just saw her as an older cool girl who showed me and my sister a picture of a redwood tree in Muir Woods that needed multiple shots to capture its monstrosity.

We would go there once a year at the very least. My mom's cousin, Auntie Anita, were roommates when she moved from the province to Manila. That side of the family is crazy, but not like deadbeat dad and Springer crazy. Next time we have beers or whatnot I can discuss this at length because I can imagine my mom googling "Auntie Anita", giving me a call and telling me that in a passive-aggressive way that I done did some shit.

So one of my biggest memories there, while the grown-ups where chatting it up and my sister was talking to the cool older girl, was having free reign of their library which was modest but power-packed. And of all the books I remember, the one branded in my mind was "History of the Super Bowl" for the obvious young Niner fan reasons. Funny how I have to cram hard as fuck to remember what clasp is better for a tooth-bourne mucosa bound partial denture, but for the last 15+ years because of that book I will always remember who coined the term Super Bowl (Lamar Hunt).

Reading about the Jets/Colts in Super Bowl III was as exciting for a curious little fuckface like myself as was reading about the Revolutionary War in Social Studies or watching how oxygen feeds plants on Mr. Wizard.

Each Super Bowl had its own logo, its backstory, its motivations. Now that I'm older, I can't bother to remember Lynn Swann and Roger Staubach because I wasnt there. Looking at the list of Super Bowls I had written out made me feel like an old old man (wow the Niners beat the Bengals 20 years ago?!), but with old men come a more comprehensive list of satisfying memories. Dave Berman said that when he was 28 it was like his brain was only allowed one thought at a time and that when another thought crosses your mind then the previous thought is gone. That's actually how I feel now. I'd like to go in-depth and explain why that is so, but really I'm tired of deconstructing why I am what I am right now.

But looking down on the list of Super Bowls was like looking down at history, the NFL's history and mine. With each game came a distinct, specific feeling and location that will never be there again except in the minds of those who remember. Sure, we all remember the Patriots upsetting the Rams but I also remember being stoned as fuck at halftime asking Derrick some flimsy conspiracy theory that the Patriots were predetermined to win because we needed to infuse our country with patriotism after the 9/11 attacks. I remember Derrick politely whisking away that theory because it was a deluded and stoned thought.

So with the memory game comes the memories.

I will try to continue this as a series until I get fickle and do something else, but for now here is the first installment. Feel free to write back with your own.

January 26, 2003 - Super Bowl XXVII - Tampa Bay Buccaneers 48, Oakland Raiders 21

Ok, this was the year of the miraculous 49er playoff comeback against those dastardly New York football Giants. Previous to this week, I was watching the Niners/Giants wildcard game with Dibsy Do-Right inbetween playing Madden at my place. The first half was just diabolical mess after diabolical mess, watching Jeremy Shockey mocking the Niner fans as if he was ruler of this pocket of the city of San Francisco known as Candlestick Park (and will always be known as Candlestick).

Disgusted, we played Madden to erase the memory of another Niners loss. Then, the funniest thing happened. We flipped it onto ESPN and the Niners were only two scores behind. We thought about going back to the game but we persuaded ourselves that it was we, Dibs and I, that were the reason the Niners were losing. I mean, we flipped the channel for but a scant few moments and all of the sudden the Niners were surging a comeback. It was us who spoiled the 49ers hopes and we thought it should be us to help them get back on the horse by not watching.

Sounds ridiculous, right? The belief in something illogical and vain to think that our purpose as beings in the center of the universe was to follow through with a message -- although given with good intentions -- that we could only believe due to some faith that is neither controllable or scientifically proven?


(is that subtle enough for you?)

But the Niners won, making the second-largest comeback in NFL postseason play.

You're welcome.

So, Super Bowl Sunday. We were at Dibsy's this time and Erica had made good food and we watched all the pregame hoopla and hullaballoo. It's funny, because a lot of that fleeting Raider success in the late '90s were experienced with Don and Erica. I remember before she got tired of watching the back of mine and Don's heads playng Madden, she was actually interested in the game and how upset she was when Siragusa fucked up Rich Gannon's shoulder in the AFC Championship Game.

And now at what will now be the apex of the Raiders legacy (post-tuck rule era), I was at Don and Erica's house excited at the prospect of Hammer making a comeback song in honor of the Oaktown Silver and Black.

Thee game started and the Raiders suuuucked. Suuucked hard. I remember mostly pigging out, really. I remembered how the Niners succeeded due to me avoiding the game and I remember thinking "Man, I should try that again" and so I plopped myself down on the computer and surfed the web while everyone was either watching the game or shooting the shit.

And then when I turned my back on the Raiders, they got a touchdown pass and a blocked punt for a touchdown to cut the lead. I remember hearing CJ's yells and the optimism of coming back. Of course, it was just optimism and the Raiders went on to lose. I remember we played Smash Bros. or Madden after that (things tend to blur after awhile) and smoking a joint at halftime, but what I remembered most was that I missed out on watching the biggest 49er comeback in the history of the Niner playoff football history and the Raiders make a feint comeback because I thought that shit would actually work!

How easy to be egotistical to think the outcome of the game would be determined by where my eyes are situated at. It would make everything all much simpler.

"Did you hear, I won the lottery!"

"Congratulations man, it's because I didn't watch the news."

But sometimes little things like that can keep you sane, so I don't hold it against you if you need that sort of thing.

P.S. Jim Cornette, of all freaking people, probably made the essay of the year in terms of selling Obama to the undecideds and the Mcainiacs... CARNIES DOING GOOD!

Read here.