A man works hard. He comes home. He wants to eat some bacon and go online and kill people. Well, I got home, I ate my bacon, but no online killing spree for me, not if I want to do it in the sandbox of GTA IV at least.
I had read on neogaf that the situation had been fixed. Well, it might have been fixed earlier in the day when the western hemisphere was at work but, now that we've all come home, it is down again. My teeth, I am gnashing them.
This not wholly unexpected outage did create the opportunity to complete the mammoth task of installing and updating Metal Gear Online. I created my character "Van Cleef" and took him online for one of the training sessions. The controls are... interesting. I need more time with them to try to get comfortable.
My original assessment of things was that I had gotten to the beta too late because I assumed I'd be caught up in GTA for my online fix. Well, that idea is slowly circling the drain. With Niko stuck on the sidelines, Van Cleef may get some play time.
a girl combs her skirt
brushes lint from the dark fabric
necks crane looking for a train
There was a fair amount of people waiting at my stop for the G train this morning. A girl was there who was using lint tape to systematically clear her skirt and shirt of lint (or hair- lots and lots of hair), brushing down, brushing across, periodically checking her progress.
I don't want to turn this into a Penthouse Letter (not yet anyway) but I found it very endearing and attractive. She was in own little world, grooming herself in the half-gloom of the subway platform
She was, in fact, picking off hair from her dog. She was not, thankfully, hirsute.
My friend Paul sent me this link to Dark Horizons to see the first image of a sleestak from the upcoming Land of the Lost movie. I didn't know they were making a movie of the classic (to me anyway) TV show. According to DH, it will be a comedy. Hopefully, it will Shaun of the Dead funny, not I Spy unfunny. (via iPhone)
Well, I was able to do it- I was able to score a copy of GTA IV tonight instead of tomorrow (I wasn't about to go fetch it at midnight). So far so good, it's graphically extremely impressive, it controls well, and it boasts a great script. Niko is a very likable character for someone who is essentially a thug, though not just a thug- he's got a mysterious past, a heart of gold, and a song in his heart. A thug with a heart of gold... doesn't that describe every GTA lead character?
I've only completed the first few missions - really, they're thinly veiled tutorials but they do a good job of drawing you in while handing out the requisite instructions on different gameplay elements, such as driving, shooting, brawling, and dating. Yes, dating. And you will like it.
Below are some photos of GTA IV ads I spotted around town:
...and the Corner Deli (Why? Because... just because):
I probably should have mentioned it yesterday when it was more topical but... I didn't. What I did do was go into Thai 101 for lunch. It was my first time. I don't eat much Thai food, not for reasons of taste but because it just doesn't come up much. Out of sight, out of mouth. What caught my eye was the Thai beef salad on the menu.
My mother makes a great Thai beef salad. Actually, I guess she does because I've never had it. But I've heard over and over again how great it is. So, it dawned on me to try Thai 101's beef salad to create a basis of comparison for whenever I finally get to try my mother's version.
Unfortunately, because it has been a day and a half since I had the Thai beef salad, my recollections on the exact flavor have become a bit hazy. However, I did enjoy it with the slight caveat that it was a bit salty, nothing to deter me from having it again though.
Slowly but surely, I'm making the rounds of all the local eateries. I can't always go to Maggie Brown or Chez Lola... or can I? (No, I can't.)
As I continue to drench myself in the tidal wave of media generated by the imminent release of GTA IV, new bits of information rise up from the dark waters to raise my interest in the game to new levels. I found this on Stephen Totilo's blog:
"I am playing the game in my apartment in the Clinton Hill section of Brooklyn, essentially the same neighborhood where 'GTA IV' protagonist Niko Bellic is based. For seven hours I have primarily spent Niko’s time in west Brooklyn – called Broker in the game – visiting his cousin’s taxi shop which sits across the street from the same Navy yards that are at the end of the street on which I live. Half of the time I’ve put Niko behind the wheel of a car, I’ve driven past a traffic circle, a grand arch and a massive library, all of which are all spitting images of the Grand Army Plaza location that is a 10 minute walk from my house. I walk around the circle often; I use that library."
I was already wondering if I would be able to find my virtual house in the game but I had no idea that the neighborhood would not only be in the game but be right at the center of things. I'm already plotting the abuses I intend to inflict on my virtual neighbors (sorry in advance).
Right now, Metacritic has aggregated perfect scores for GTA IV. Wow. I guess the game is pretty good. I'm hoping to score a copy tomorrow but I'll have it Tuesday at the latest. A game with this much hype has no business actually living up it. Kudos to Rockstar.
I went to Maggie Brown for breakfast this morning. I think I'm addicted to the Maggie Brown Eggs (the secret ingredient is horseradish!). I sat at the bar and watched the bartender make homemade Bloody Mary mix. I think she's the only one who does this, though, and she only works on Sundays.
It was about 10:30 AM and a guy sitting at a table ordered up a Guinness. This man is obviously trying to get some serious business done this morning. Either that, or he likes to drink his breakfast... Drinking breakfast? Brilliant!
After the eggs and some coffee, I hustled down to the Brooklyn Flea. I wasn't expecting much, being that the day looks to be on the edge of misery, but there was more going on than I had thought. I desperately need furnishings for my apartment but nothing caught my eye. I did however enter into a raffle for a table made of old bowling lane wood. I might go back this afternoon if either it doesn't rain or the fates smile down on me and I win the table. In any case, I need furniture but I lack inspiration. I need a design-epiphany.
Here are some shots from the flea market taken through my iPhone (where the heck did I hide my digital camera?):
I just finished watching IGN's video review of Rockstar's GTA IV. They called it the best game they'd played in the last ten years and rated it a perfect 10/10. I guess they liked it.
It was nice to hear that the multiplayer is very good on top of the single player. Not that GTA is a game series that lives and dies on the multiplayer side of things but I was curious about how that mode would work out and can now look forward to running and gunning through Liberty City online as well as offline.
The video review itself is awfully short and not exactly an in depth look at the game (what was I expecting?) but it does show off some nice footage of the gameplay. The new aiming and cover systems, in particular look impressive: blind-firing rocket-launchers for the win!
I appreciate that websites are developing specific front-ends for mobile device access. As an iPhone owner, I appreciate the iPhone specific front-ends that websites like Twitter, Facebook, and Google Reader have created. However, why are all these mobile versions dumbed down to the point that, beyond the most simple, basic functions, I have to revert back to the standard site to do anything?
Particularly with the iPhone, my browser capabilities aren't neutered, I just need things delivered in smaller, bite-sized chunks. The mobile versions of these sites are not as useful as they could be because, instead of repositioning many of their options, they've just removed them. Boo, I say, boo!
All three of the current generation platform holders have created marketplaces for downloadable content. However, none of them seem content to let the market operate on its own. In one way or another they just can't help monkeying around in the works. Whatever happened to the idea of laissez-faire?
Given this propensity to get in the way of things, it should come as no surprise that Nintendo has decided that it doesn't need Bionic Commando cluttering up the Virtual Console. I can't wait for Neogaf to work itself into a frothy frenzy over this.
I'll never understand why these companies create these marketplaces only to gimp them by not allowing them to function as truly open systems. Economics 101 and they just don't get it. How many corporate suits does it take to ruin a great idea? Sadly, not too many.
The Clinton Hill Foodie did a nice little writeup about Kif, a Moroccan restaurant in the 'hood. I've passed it once or twice walking around but haven't tried it yet. I lived in Morocco for a few years so I'd love to find a good spot that offers the true cuisine. Too often, Moroccan restaurants do nothing more than pass off generic Middle Eastern food. Hopefully, this spot will deliver. I'd love some good Moroccan kafta (not Lebanese!) but I fear that may be too much to hope for. Actually, I'll take anything, as long as they have more on the menu than the inexplicably ever-present Merguez sausage.
Word is getting around that Apple's second generation iPhone will have 3G (instead of EDGE) and, finally, mercifully, GPS. While 3G will be a nice upgrade, I'm not sure that would be enough incentive, alone, for me to upgrade from my generation one iPhone. However, GPS is another story. The pathetic, poor-man's triangulation GPS-want-to-be that the iPhone has presently has only increased my desire for real, bona fide GPS. The only thing next is to give the internal memory a nice fat bump. I want a real increase, not 12 GB or 16 GB but 32 or 64 at least. If Apple's not going to let us use external memory cards, the least they can do is give us enough to put a sizeable amount of our media library on the thing. If they do that, I'll have to start saving my pennies for a summer upgrade.
A month or so ago, I caught an episode of "That Mitchell and Webb Look" on BBC America. Like the britcom equivalent of the crack-pipe, it's given me a comedy fix I've got the keep chasing like sweet, sweet Lady H.
As a result, I ordered as much Mitchell and Webb stuff as I could find on Amazon's UK site (including "The Smoking Room" which just has Webb in it but is hilarious). My DVR is filled with every new and repeat episode and I've scoured YouTube for every snippet of grainy thirty second video.
Some good bits for a start:
What is up with Amy Winehouse? Arrested for (allegedly) headbutting someone outside a bar? With that head of hair, they could charge her for assault with a deadly weapon. She should change her name to Amy Roundhouse, better yet, Amy Roadhouse. If she weren't such hot head, she could be a cooler. They'll try to make her go to anger management but she'll say no, no, no.
I went to Chez Lola for dinner tonight. It's the second time I've been there and both times I've had a really good experience: great food, great atmosphere, friendly peeps. I'm hooked on their spicy salmon burger. I've had it both times. I need to break out and try something new next time.
By all accounts, I should be excited about the upcoming Wachowski Speed Racer movie. It has the sort of special effect driven spectacle that usually fires up my testosterone, it's got a respectable directing pedigree, and the subject is firmly behind the soft, glazed lens of childhood nostalgia. Except that's not how it's worked out. I find myself so entirely apathetic to the film that to say I have zero interest in it is to somehow understate my lack of emotion.
I've seen the trailer a few times now and it leaves me cold. It seems like an earnest take on the cartoon and maybe that's the problem. While a show like Starsky & Hutch suffered when converted into an over-the-top slapstick buddy comedy, perhaps Speed Racer suffers from the reverse treatment.
Another problem may be something I will term the Cool World effect. The film is so green-screen dependent that the outrageous backgrounds and stunts are unreal to the point that they don't feel grounded in any sort of reality. The racing scenes in the trailer don't excite me because they have no weight, no physical sense. I can't suspend my disbelief.
Prince Caspian, on the other hand, has undergone the reverse transformation. Originally, I had no interest in the film at all. I was a bit underwhelmed by The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe- I liked it but didn't love it. This sequel had dropped off of my radar entirely. Until now. The trailer has turned me around completely. Now, I'm excited to see it.
Prince Caspian and Speed Racer have nothing in common. However, the former film appears to take place in a real location, even if that location is fantastic. The latter does not. It looks like exactly what it is: actors pantomiming in front of some whiz-bang graphics. Maybe I'm just getting old, but that's no longer enough (if it ever was) to entice me into the theater. So, I'll go see Prince Caspian and save Speed Racer for Netflix, if I can rouse myself enough to put it into my queue.
I received my invitation this morning to my first pirate wedding. I am very excited. If there is anything that can add a little spice to a wedding, it's pirates.
In the interests of full-disclosure, I must concede that I was not on the original guest. My cousin could not make the trip so I was chosen out of a cast of thousands (or at least a handful) as his very willing replacement.
I've only got a couple of weeks to prepare so I'd better dig out and dust off my tri-corner hat. Hopefully, the reception won't be overrun with Captain Jack Sparrow impersonators.
Many Bothan spies died to bring me this peek at the reception DJ's playlist:
This episode has fired me up in a way that hasn't happened for a long time. There was the perfect combination of action and exposition, tension and release, mystery and reveal.
Ben is a bad man. There is no doubt about that. It is almost impossible to tell, at any time, if he's caught up in events or simply playing a part in a situation he orchestrated, the outcome never in doubt. However, it appears he may out have out-Benned himself tonight. As he said repeatedly, the nefarious forces of Mr. Whitmore changed the rules and, for once, Ben was caught by surprise. Judging from the aftermath, he's not taking it lying down.
I loved the culling of the extras during the assault on the village but they didn't take it far enough. Claire was sitting directly in the crosshairs but the writers were not brave enough to pull the trigger. That she emerged from the wanton destruction so unscathed is the apex of cheese.
The beach boys, Jack and co., are becoming less and less interesting. I suppose that explains why Sawyer has to go back: he's got to liven things up down there. As much as I am not a fan of the love triangle, I don't think I can stand anymore Jun and Sung episodes.
I am not a Hurley fan. His comic relief only goes so far and, for my mileage, that distance can be measured in inches. However, he did man up when he needed to. Could this be a sign that he could be maturing? Yes, I know, every six or so episodes, Hurley will step to the fore but he inevitably slides back into sidekickdom. Maybe the cycle is just due to come around again but I'd prefer to fool myself for the time being in thinking he's turned a corner... until next week.
As I begin yet another attempt to communicate my thoughts to the net, I've decided that, rather than pick a particular theme (which inevitably fails), I would fashion my blog to imitate my life and mind: jumping rather awkwardly from subject to subject, interest to interest, and following my jumbled thoughtspace (is that a word?) as it (d)evolves.
Hopefully, having abandoned myself to myself, I will be able to sustain the creative effort which has, before, faded out over time. Here's to beginner's enthusiam! Let the honeymoon of creativity begin!
