| Lego Rock Band Party |
[Nov. 4th, 2009|06:21 am] |
For those of you who may still be Facebook impaired, the Lego RB party got moved to tonight, as more people were available. It starts around 5pm at my place.
-KEiTH |
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| Lego Rock Band |
[Oct. 28th, 2009|06:36 am] |
I've posted an event on Facebook, but I don't know if some people still aren't on there. Anyway, next tuesday (11/3) is the release date for Lego Rock Band. I plan to have a party for people to come over and play. Ya'll should come. Who doesn't want to play with Lego Bowie? The 'dig will start around 5pm. Feel free to invite additional people.
-KEiTH |
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| Beatles Rock Band release party |
[Sep. 2nd, 2009|07:29 am] |
The game comes out on the 9th (next Wed). I'm having a party at ye olde apartmente that night around 5pm. Come and learn how difficult 3 part harmonies can be.
-KEiTH |
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| +2 Post of Retardation |
[Aug. 20th, 2009|09:14 am] |
| [ | Tags | | | d&d, penny arcade | ] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | work | ] |
| [ | my current mood |
| |  pissed off | ] |
| [ | music, movies, n' stuff |
| | Simpson's Theme - in my head | ] |
Holy Fucking Crap, here we go again:
http://www.sltrib.com/justice/ci_13146563
Some guy beats someone with a hammer allegedly over a game of Dungeons & Dragons, and a girl they both wanted to date. Uh, yeah. D&D is the evil spawn of Satan, and inducts your children into his unholy cult...or something. Just wonderful. We were just making headway, I thought, it doing away with that stigma in relation to gaming. I think Tycho from Penny Arcade put it best when he said, "There are manifold unanswered questions: for example, was defendant Zachary King playing a class that can even wield hammers?" On a brighter note the comic at Penny Arcade is hilarious.
-KEiTH |
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| Gurnsey |
[Aug. 15th, 2009|02:15 pm] |
| [ | Tags | | | cat | ] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | home | ] |
| [ | my current mood |
| |  calm | ] |
| [ | music, movies, n' stuff |
| | none | ] |
This post is for Lindsay. Gurnsey is doing fine. I've stopped by every day since you left. She seems fairly indifferent to her situation. She comes and sees what's going on whenever I come in, but usually ignores me for the most part. On Thursday, she seemed more affectionate than usual, so I stayed with her for about a half-hour, at which point she wandered off to parts of the house unknown. She's been eating most of the wet food each day, though she doesn't seem to care for the seafood medley. She hasn't really touched much of the dry food, but I've kept it full. Just so you know, there was a note on your door, saying your landlord would be installing new smoke alarms. I saw no evidence of anybody, so I don't know what was up with that. I hid the veterinary fund under the food, just in case. I'll be seeing Gurnsey today in about an hour, during my bike ride. So far, so good. Hope your still having fun, see you in a while.
-KEiTH |
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| WIN! |
[Aug. 10th, 2009|10:15 am] |
| [ | Tags | | | rock band | ] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | work | ] |
| [ | my current mood |
| | excited | ] |
| [ | music, movies, n' stuff |
| | none | ] |
Gorillaz tracks for Rock Band! Also, the only Janis Joplin song I would like to have, and fuckin' "White Rabbit". SO much awesome.
-KEiTH |
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| Some Reviews... |
[Jul. 20th, 2009|07:52 am] |
A couple of quick reviews:
First, Harry Potter & The Half-Blood Prince, the 6th movie in the series, came out last week. I went to see it on opening night, then, a second time on Thursday, and it was absolutely great. It was so much better than the last couple of offerings, and probably my favorite thus far. They definitely recaptured the magic (pun intended). At just over 2 1/2 hours; the pacing, a major issue with the last few films in general, was superbly calibrated. Let's face it, this movie, and the book from which it was based, are pretty much just the exposition setup for the seventh and final book/movies. None the less, the movie never felt boring or overly expositional. All of my favorite moments were there, and the things that were changed were understandable at worst and welcome in quite a few cases. There was only one scene that I didn't think they should have made, and that was the scene at the Burrow during Christmas time. For those that have seen it, you know the one. What the hell. It didn't progress the plot, and it wasn't necessary for any other reason. Other than that, my only complaint was the missing funeral at the end, but I got over it. The budding romances and out of control hormones were in full force during this installment, and they were mostly handled really well. The casting, as always, was superb. I'm very willing to forgive Slughorn's physical inaccuracies for the excellent performance of Jim Brodbent in the part. Michael Gambon really brought Dumbledore to a perfection that I thought came up slightly short in past movies. Alan Rickman is still Alan Rickman. All the children were great with a special honorable mention going to Luna Lovegood. Perfection in casting if there ever was any; she was even better in this movie. I <3's me some Luna wackiness. Hermione, Ron, and Harry were as good as ever. All in all, an excellent job, and I look forward to the final installments even more now.
The other movie I saw recently was Zac and Dawn Make a Wedding. The supposed sequel to Zac and Miri Make a Porno. Although, as far as I can tell, the movie has been entirely recast both behind and in front of the camera. I personally think it was an improvement overall. The casting was excellent. It starred that guy from the new Johnny Depp movie, Public Enemies. I can't remember the actor's name, as his IMDB entry seems to be missing for some reason, but his portrayal of Zac Shipley was superb. Beside him was his eternal flame Dawn (formerly Sulok) Shipley, who was portrayed perfectly by the bassist of The Recession, my favorite underrated four-hit wonder band. As I understand it, her debut in this movie may be her last, as she is retiring to go into teaching. It's a shame, but I wish her the best, and I think she'll be great. The pacing of this movie, at least from my perspective in the audience, seemed a bit fast. It was a full 48 hours long, but seemed to go by much quicker.
My favorite part was the bachelor party scene, but they may have to wait for the DVD release to show that in its entirety. Maybe they can post some deleted scenes on YouTube or something. This scene seemed to preserve the humor style of the first movie more than others. I do have to say that the stripper seemed a little plastic. Where did they find an albino, headless, quadriplegic stripper? That's incredibly specific casting. She also had that problem where she looked good from the front, but not nearly as good from the back. She had no butt to speak of at all. I also have a minor gripe about the card game being played in that scene. Like many things made up for movies, it didn't seem to have any discernible logical rules. At least they got the video games correct for once. No recycled Pac-man sounds coming from the TV as the players, all holding incorrect controllers, button mashed unrealistically to imaginary images. Nope, they got the real deal for this one. They must have paid up to $60 each to license all these great titles. It was worth it, though, as it looked absolutely real.
The wedding ceremony scene was excellent, although I think the bugs looked fake. They should have added those using CG in post or something, rather than trying to do the effect practically. Zac, usually the consummate performer, seemed a little nervous in that scene, but he pulled it off in the end. The scene was perfectly timed, and not long and drawn out like in other similar wedding movies I've scene. The costume designer and set decorator did a superb job of getting the feel and heart of the scene. It felt just like being at a real, good wedding.
The reception scene looked like it was shot in a local senior center or something. Don't get me wrong, they did a good job once again of dressing the set; though I think the props master has a bit of an obsession with legos. It looked like even part of the cake was made of lego blocks. Don't eat those. The soundtrack in this part of the movie was excellent, though I think they made a continuity mistake in the editing. It appeared that they started up one song, then suddenly a different song was playing. At least the new song was wedding appropriate; being about never giving you up, never letting you down, never running around and deserting you, etc. You know, commitment type stuff, although I question the sexual orientation of the singer. They also seemed to have a few too many untalented extras that were unwilling or unable to dance. I feel the need to apologize on their behalf. A good time seemed to be had, though, and that's what was important. I'm very happy to have seen this movie, and I wish the cast a long and happy career. As I understand it, their next project takes place in Washington DC. I'm hoping for a live-action Fallout movie.
-KEiTH
P.S. - I do think they under-utilized the guy playing the security guard with the laptop by the bathrooms. He was there the entire time, but didn't really have anything to do. Maybe they could have had a scene with an attempted break-in to the steal the Fitchburg Death Star plans. Or, they could have had the legos turn out to be robots in disguise, bent on stealing the Fitchburg Allspark. Maybe a bank robbery, and the guard could have been the audience at the trial. See? There are lots of ways they could have utilized this talented, albeit quiet, security guard. |
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| I gets me a new Xbox tonight - or - Let's break this in properly |
[Jun. 12th, 2009|07:00 am] |
So, after work, I'm going to Best Buy to purchase a new Xbox to replace my recently demised one. Guess what I'm going to be doing this weekend. I never realized I was this addicted, but I guess all the signs were there. Anyway, if anyone wants to come over for some sweet gaming action, I'd love the company. I can probably even scare up some food, and make it an impromptu party proper. I was thinking either tonight, or tomorrow night, or possibly both. I've got lots of games to play, but feel free to bring more. Give me call or drop a line if you're interested.
-KEiTH |
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| Bill Killed |
[Jun. 4th, 2009|09:41 am] |
David Carradine has died. Early reports say he committed suicide by hanging himself in a Bankok hotel room. He was there shooting a movie. I just can't believe it.
-KEiTH |
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| 'Tis the season... |
[Jun. 4th, 2009|06:11 am] |
| [ | Tags | | | xbox | ] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | work | ] |
| [ | my current mood |
| |  sad | ] |
| [ | music, movies, n' stuff |
| | none | ] |
...apparently. My Xbox has died. Unfortunately, it didn't red-ring. It did the other major problem that people have been having. Apparently, it's the same issue as a red-ring, the Xbox just doesn't know that it's red-ringed. The GPU has become disconnected partially, through heat warpage, from the motherboard, but the Xbox doesn't detect the fault. I get sound but no video. Since it's not a specific red-ring, and I'm outside the normal 1-year warranty, Microsoft wanted $140 to fix it, so I'm just going to buy an arcade package, and install my hard drive on it, since that's only $60 more dollars, and I get a fresh warranty with that. SInce it didn't matter anymore, I decided to try a fix I found online, where you take the Xbox apart and replace the heatsink clamps with screws and washers, then tighten it down really tight, and essentially overheat the GPU to solder it back in place. Unfortunately, Microsoft designed this generation of 360's to not allow this to happen. The moment it detects that the GPU is overheating, it shuts the power to the motherboard off. So, no go on that front. I was very skeptical about this fix anyway, but at this point, I had nothing to lose. Oh well. Add my name to the clubhouse list.
-KEiTH |
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| Going Up! |
[Jun. 3rd, 2009|10:18 am] |
| [ | Tags | | | movies, pixar, review, up | ] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | work | ] |
| [ | my current mood |
| | cheerful | ] |
| [ | music, movies, n' stuff |
| | none | ] |
This last Friday, as is my custom for Pixar movies, (which have more than filled the void left by my childhood love of Disney animated features) I went and saw Up. I’m going to try and make this post spoiler-free (or maybe spoiler-lite), because I think it’s important to get people to see the movie. Then, we can discuss! I can forego the full review until more people have seen it; mostly because, like last month’s Star Trek, I think I need to see this movie at least once more to totally collect my thoughts.
Honestly, going into this movie with a couple of trailers and a basic premise under my belt, I wasn’t expecting much. The concept didn’t strike me as all that engaging, based off the trailers. My least favorite Pixar movie to date, by far, is A Bug’s Life, and I was expecting about that level of interest. I couldn’t have been more wrong. Bottom line, Up is yet another in the long, unbroken line of Pixar masterpieces. While not as fundamentally interesting in presentation as Wall-E, the storytelling aspect is much deeper, and more…mature? I don’t know if that’s the right word, but Pixar has really come into their own as a producer of emotion among its movie-going audience. Without dishing up the spoilers too much, the prologue of the movie deals with the death of a loved one. Not in the oft-used Disney, “Oh, by the way, the main character has no mother.” way, but it’s actually dealt with. I found myself very close to tears at two points in the movie. I don’t usually get moved this much by animation, but Pixar is different. For them, animation is the medium, not the genre.
This movie also has the distinction of being the first Pixar feature length film to “star” normal, typical humans. They’ve been there since the start, sure, but they’ve always been secondary to the main characters. Even The Incredibles, which followed the adventures of a family of super-powered humans, had an element of fantasy that helped convey the story. That’s actually part of what I was initially skeptical about. Will Pixar’s genius work without an intermediary of a fantasy metaphor to “speak” through? Don’t get me wrong, this movie has it’s share of fantastical concepts; with “talking” dogs, flying houses, and really, really strong garden hoses (not to mention questionable physics regarding lighter-than-air gases), but the heart of the movie is a human story that can be universally understood without all that. Parts of this movie are more deeply touching, in my opinion, than Finding Nemo, which is really hard to dethrone as the emotional “king” of their repertoire.
I’m going to stop there, for now, and get into spoilerific specifics after I see it once more. Please, if you feel like I did initially, DO NOT judge this “book” by its cover. See the movie, you will be rewarded. Yes, the premise is a little weird, and yes, your suspension of disbelief will get some use, but you NEED to see this movie. Afterward, tell me what you thought. I don’t think I’ve ever left a Pixar movie in deeper thought than after this one.
-KEiTH |
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| Party for somethin' 'r other - Sunday |
[May. 22nd, 2009|10:14 pm] |
So, for those who don't know or may have forgotten, Tom and I are hosting a party on Sunday evening at 6pm. Anyone that wants to come is invited. We've bought some food, mostly the standard grilling fare, and some snacks. We are running a little low on the drinks side, so please bring something to pass if you can. IF you want to come earlier, that's cool with me; I'm home all day. If you can't come right at the beginning, don't sweat it, the party will go as late as it wants to. I don't work Monday. Come on over, and we'll have some fun!
-KEiTH |
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| The Recession reaches the bar scene... |
[May. 19th, 2009|10:15 am] |
Well, last night was the “big night” for The Recession. We rocked it out on the stage at High Noon Saloon. As you may already know, it didn’t go as well as we'd hoped. We really got shafted by our seeding in the first round. The other two first round winners were against bands that didn’t really put up any challenge. We, meanwhile, were seeded against the band that went on to (arguably) win the whole thing. Our score was actually higher than one of the other bands that did go on, but that’s not the way it was set up. We lost to the band we were against, so we didn’t go on. There was also an issue where “Scanner Dan,” the band that did win, was borrowing a player from the band that ended up getting second. I think this was miscarriage of fair play. I realize that their other member was sick, and that wasn’t planned, but they should have had to come up with an alternate NOT from another band, or just go on without the other member as exhibition. Ironically, this was the band that complained about the way the judging was being done during the prelims. Don’t get me wrong, “Scanner Dan” did well, but I don’t think they were the best. Sorry guys, but that’s my opinion.
You know what, I’m over it. Both Zac and I were incensed over what occurred when it happened last night. Zac was vocal about it with the judges, which I can’t fault him for. It’s probably better than how I handled it. I just became really cranky, and stewed in my own anger. In the big scheme of things, it wasn’t worth that. I know we did well, and that’s good enough. All I remember about the time on stage were good things. We all got into it, and I felt this was our most “genuine” performance. It really helped having a full crowd that was really into it. The bright stage lights actually helped too. I could hear the crowd, but not see them. From my perspective we were in our own world, and I could just enjoy the ride. Our bit with the costume change to Culver’s uniforms could not have gone better. Sean and Zac sold the idea brilliantly, and the crowd got a big kick out of it when we put the hats on. The fact that, unbeknownst to us beforehand, Culver’s had sponsored the competition was just icing on the cake. Our actual scores were not as good as we’ve done before, but still very respectable. Our mystery song, “Pinball Wizard,” didn’t go well for Zac, and it isn’t an easy song for the rest of us either. We still got into it, so I don’t think it was a failure.
I do still feel sorry for “Schnauzer Rocket,” as I think they should have taken the competition. I don’t mind admitting that I think they were better than us. Nick, Liz, Jimmy, and Girl-whose-name-I-didn’t-catch-,-sorry brought their “A” game, and held it through the entire competition. Their costumes and stage energy were easily the best in show; filling any weakness in their actual performance, which was really solid anyway. The hostess kept telling us that second place was the place to be, a call-back to last year’s competition in which her band took second. However, the prize set for 1st was really good. So, kudos to ya’ll for your performance. “Collectors’ Edition” should also get an honorable mention. They played a good set, and had their act together. They definitely had sex appeal coming from both sides of the stage.
I regret not enjoying the night more. I was nervous before, and pissed off after. I apologize to my band mates, as well as the others around me, for my behavior. We just had rotten luck, and I took it badly. I did have fun while we were actually playing, and I enjoyed many others’ performances as well. Thank you to WYOU, Culver’s (haHA!), Gumby’s Pizza, and, of course, the best live-music bar in Madison, High Noon Saloon. Let’s do this again sometime. |
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| Life? Don't talk to me about life. |
[May. 13th, 2009|09:24 pm] |
I'm not sure why, but I just haven't felt like writing for a while. A LOT has happened, which probably would have been more interesting, and definitely more topical, if I had written about them earlier. Sadly none of it was life-changing in any major way (except maybe Star Trek...:/), but it was interesting for me. There’s A LOT of it. I’m using a cut to save on virtual paper. So, without further ado, in chronological order:
( Read more... )
So that’s it. To sum up:
-No Brand was fun.
-Wolverine is not quite as bad as everyone else says.
-Rock Band is cheap but still fun way to pass the time with The Recession in full swing, and will be played at High Noon on Monday, May 18th at 7:00PM.
-Star Trek is back, and better than ever.
-KEiTH |
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| Smeg! |
[Apr. 2nd, 2009|09:01 am] |
I was reading one of my daily webcomics Dueling Analogs, and they had a comic about Daleks and Wiis. Anyway, in the blog post below it, the artist mentioned that in addition to new Doctor Who in April, there will also be a couple NEW episodes of Red Dwarf. WTF?!?! Did everyone else already know about this?
-KEiTH
P.S. - LiveJournal's built-in spellchecker continues to astound me. It doesn't know the word "blog". Ummm.... |
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| Life, or something like it... |
[Mar. 30th, 2009|06:24 am] |
My existence over the last couple of weeks has been weird.
First off, the weekend after my birthday, exactly two weeks into my ownership of a new 42" LCD TV, to the hour, I killed it. I cracked the LCD panel in the most stereotypical way any gamer can. That's right, I wacked it with a Wii-mote. The TV was unusable. The screen would only display a white background with a really colorful circular bulls-eye, perfectly centered, as if I'd planned it. The long (not terribly epic) story of my return to hi-def is under ( this cut )
So, long story short (TOO LATE!), I'm a little worse for wear (literally), but I'm back in business with hi-def. I feel a little bad about doing what I did, but less so due to the way I was treated by Philips. I spent the entire weekend experiencing as many mediums as I could on my TV. Next topic!
The Midwest Gaming Classic was the day after my TV debacle took place. I had a lot of fun, but was unable to purchase ANYTHING. I thought, at the time, that I would be out a bunch of money to get my TV fixed. Thus, I was under a self-imposed money-trading embargo. There was A LOT of stuff in the dealers' room I was interested in. There were also more pinball machines than can comfortably exist in one space. My only issue was being completely unable to hear any of the audio from a single machine, as they were engulfed in the din of the decidedly ping-based white noise surrounding me. The videogame room was about the size of NoBrand's offering, though more diverse, and a lot less stinky. My only regret was the complete lack of PC gaming, the notable exception being about a dozen iMacs running the original Doom being LAN'd together. How's that for misrepresentation of a medium? There was also a cocktail table, similar to the videogame ones from the 80's, that had a computer set up running (essentially) Tron. There was a set of controls on each side of the table, and the monitor embedded in the middle. If I had a couple thousand to invest in an interactive piece of furniture, this would be at the top of my list. I'd, of course, want to run other arcade games on it as well. In the hallway between the dealer room, there was a digital projector set up showing various documentaries on the history of pinball. As the only panel-style activity available, I decided to sit in on part of a presentation by a coin-op distributor that interrupted a documentary I was enjoying. What a mistake. This guy was completely full of himself, but completely useless at the same time. His "presentation" consisted of him DEMANDING that we ask him questions about the industry, which as you know is dying in this country. So, every question was either, "What was it like in the glory days?", or "How can this industry survive?". His answers to which were, "It was great, but we were stupid with our money.", or "Meh, I don't know or really care." respectively; only worded slightly less bluntly. Some expert. If you don't have enough material to either fill the time allotment, or engage your audience enough for them to ask questions worth answering, don't do the panel. Anyway, I will definitely be going next year, but I wish it were bigger, both in terms of space and scope. Especially considering the large-ish crowd they had, which everyone told me it was MUCH more crowded than in the past.
Lastly, No Brand Con. I've already registered, and I'm starting to feel that tingle of excitement. More so, because of an idea of Sean's. He mentioned an American Idol style contest for Rock Band. It's an interesting idea, but very complex to actually pull off. My mind is almost singly devoted to obsessing about this idea. I figure we should have it in main programming, on the stage. The players would face the audience, and have monitors displaying the game, and we would also project it on the big screen for the audience. We'd need a panel of judges, and the logistics inherent in such a contest (difficulties of different songs, judging criteria, etc.) would have to be figured out. It would be really cool to get one of the guests to be one of the judges. Also, it's getting pretty close to the con, and finding time in the schedule, plus the equipment and bodies required to run it is daunting. I've got ideas I want to test about the monitors, specifically in regards to the drummer, who's view of a monitor would be obscured by the drum kit. I've got questions about the sound and video equipment available. Also, in addition to the contest, it'd be nice to have a couple of hours to have a karaoke-style thing for people who didn't want to be in the contest, but still want to play. I really hope we can pull this off. I know it would be popular, having spent most of my weekend last year in the game room at the Rock Band setup. Any ideas? Suggestions? Want to come to No Brand (hint,hint)? Let's do this thing!!!
-KEiTH |
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| Post-birthday happiness, with a side of fanboy glee... |
[Mar. 17th, 2009|06:03 am] |
First off, my birthday was an awesome time for me; lots of people showed, we played some stuff I hadn't previously played, I got some cool gifts, we went drinking late but still got to several places, and I was pleasantly drunk but didn't have a hangover. I had a great time. Thanks for being there. It was so much better than I dared to even hope.
Tonight, I will be at High Noon for the Kissers Reunion Show. For anyone that doesn't know, The Kissers are an Irish rock band from Madison. They disbanded when the lead singer moved away last year, but they're back. At least, they are for tonight and tomorrow night (in Janesville). Anyway, they are selling advance tickets via Paypal at the High Noon site (linked above). Judging by the crowds at the last St. Patrick's Day Kissers Show I went to, it's not a bad idea, if you're going. I've purchased mine. I work the next morning, so it won't be "one of those nights." I am, however, determined to enjoy myself; and judging by my fanatical devotion to this band, that won't be a problem. If I have a good time, I may obliterate my sleep schedule and see them on Wednesday also.
Saturday, I'll be going to The Midwest Gaming Classic. I've never been, but my long-suffering, classic-gamer core can't wait.
That's all for now,
-KEiTH |
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