Start of the week in brief

-I voted today. Just skip all the bullshit and do it already if you can.

-Got my wisdom teef' removed. Rockin' the vicodinz, but it's not that great. Might be better with a Sam Adams Oktoberfest, but not today. Also got super charged ibuprofen, and some antibiotix.

-Actually listened to the new Bloc Party and judged it way too early. With the exception of one or two songs, "Intimacy" makes me feel like I'm at a BP show. "A Weekend in the City" didn't make me feel like that. I was head knocking so hard I fucking loved it. Good album.

-Played Call of Duty 4 for the first time in months. Yup, still suck at it. I thought the vicodinz would help me not suck.

Billy Frumpers, on quaaludes and watching a Nic Cage movie, lists down his shared female memories in chronological order

1986 - First grade, her name was Alison Wonderland. She gave me her carrot sticks during recess. She smelled like faery dust. One year later, we had different classrooms but our classes merged to watch Reading Rainbow together. I accused my best friend, Tony Tranh, of liking her in front of all the boys in a recess basketball game. He denied it, the rest of the kids joined in my taunting. We weren't sure what we were mocking, I felt guilt and relief that I wasn't embarrased for what I wouldn't be sure about.

1988 - My cousin's friend, Elena. She was 13, I was 8. When babysat by my cousin Alfredo, she would come over. She liked Richard Marx a lot and when looking at my class pictures pointed out the future cute boys. She would ask if any of them had older brothers. Once drank a glass of milk and re-filled it with water. The water was a cloudy white. I was turned on by her indifference. One night, I had a boner in front of her and so I carried around a blanket pretending I was a mummy.

1989 - Moira Gracie. Bolivian girl, new in school. Sat next to her due to the luck of alphabetical order. Her first friend in fourth grade. Told me knock knock jokes. Defended my attire from people that made fun of it. After seating arrangements had moved, we lost contact.
1992 - Sabrina Kellogg, neighbor who lived behind me. Over the summer, she went through puberty. Our summers, which used to consist of riding our bikes in figure eights and watching whatever was on HBO, now consisted of me making sure she would never know I liked her despite finding new ways to see her. I tried to shave my hairless face for her.

1993 - Sabrina Kellogg, now classmates in junior high. She liked my friend Jason, who liked her friend Hazel. I would talk on the phone with her about Jason all the time, Jason would awkwardly entrust me with his own secret. I was the middle man, was there for her when all I wanted to be was to be there for her.

1995 - Hazel Gutierrez. Jason's junior high crush. Hanging out with Sabrina meant hanging out with Hazel. I never really liked her all that much, but when Sabrina started going out with a senior who owned a Miata then going out with Hazel was almost consolation. Jason had moved on, although I can't determine whether or not it was before or after I lost my virginity with her. Her parents were gone for the weekend, we were on her couch. It lasted one whole commercial break while watching Blossom.

1996 - While with Hazel, crushed very hard on Olivia Kelly. Average looking girl, braces, slightly overweight, wore floral dresses. A little off the grid in high school, but when she was back on she was usually picked on. Of above average intelligence. Started wearing all black a year later. Stopped talking to me, but when we ran into each other we spoke amicably. Broke up with Hazel (she outgrew me), but was too scared what other people thought if I asked out Olivia.

1998 - Clementine Harper, girl from a school across town. Had a couple dates. We both bonded from our parents divorcing. We both thought a relationship is too complicated. Both held on to each other like lottery tickets. Drank way too much. Did doggystyle for the first time. She moved to Texas for college. We promised we'd write. Maybe two letters in, we both decided our roles were transitional to each other.

2002 - Moira Gracie, saw her over the summer from college. Platonic mostly, hung out and watched movies and had dinner. Funny how what ideal you held from childhood can still hold up if you allow it to. We had nothing in common, but being polite. Stopped hanging out when I met Annika Martinez.


2002 - Annika Martinez - Worked at a where I was temping, a non-descript company with two last names combined. I typed a lot, she did filing. On last day of work, I asked her out. She agreed. We played russian roulette with our hearts and never managed to find the bullet. She moved to LA and I moved with her. My mom cried when we left. In LA, she had a job working with B-level celebrities while I worked at a drug store and ran into B-level celebrities. Watched the same movies over and over again. Something comfortable about her, how she felt in my hands, how she tasted, how she would move in my line of sight. We knew each other's secrets, ones I choose not divulge. We had an abortion. She fell in a love with a B-level celebrity and I hated LA. Things seem to fit, except I was hoping they didn't. We lasted four years.

2008 - Liz Jimenez. After about 2 years of a drunken blur in which I returned to school, dropped out, found everything wrong with Annika and tried to forget with pills there was Liz, who was a roommate at first but we didn't need for the extra bedroom eventually. We would shoot fireworks in the porch. Then one day, I cheated on her (something I never thought I'd ever do) and kind of called it off like an asshole. The girl I cheated on her with was not a female memory that was shared, it was like someone else was in my body. I was possessed. Telling Liz that would be stupid and almost selfish.

2012 - The end of the Mayan Calendar. The world is supposed to end tommorow and here I am watching The Weather Man, waiting for you to come through this door, this composite of everything I loved and hated. The idea of love has scarcely left me and has left me all alone, trying to reach an ideal of lowered expectations. Every day is the day I meet the girl I am going to marry and every day there is an excuse not to even find it. Today is the end of the world. Every kiss is my next love, but the next kiss is a goodbye. Sandra O'Malley, we listen to each other and I wouldn't mind watching the universe implode with you in a Costco parking lot. Tommorow we settle for the end of the world and if it doesn't happen, well then, may this list end here regardless.

I go bed now

I hate it when I'm watching porn and the sound isn't synced up with the video. Like, why? Why?

Re: Proposition

Dude, no offense but we don't even have a consistent following on this blog. Other than TL, you and I are dominating the blog. (AYE DEMAND SAYTIZFACKCTSHUN) It's just going to be you and me posting on the board if you started another message board. I wish there was enough buzz to start a board. Prove me wrong gentlemen. Prove me wrong.

proposition

we've had about three or four message boards that bit the dust. the most successful one was killed by mario trolling pat aurelio (lol you remember that? that was kind of crazy funny). with us basically posting offtopic topix on the bsnfl fantasy board and a potential for creating discussion about content on this board and just a general wedding/engagement centralized discussion... are we prepared to create a new board? how many ppl here work with computers? just a topic to throw in here that is probably not necessary for any of the non-readers (all 2 of you i think) that frequent this site.

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..