I hate the videogame industry:

http://www.gamespot.com/news/6161239.html?tag=latestnews;title;0

Unless absolutely necessary, I'm going avoid buying games from EB or Gamestop because that is just a bull shit/greedy tactic.

online poker: the final cashout?
The news states that Congress has passed a bill to outlaw bank and credit card payments to online gambling sites, and Bush gets the final say-so.

So we haven't posted anything in a while...

Big news today, the Warriors got Don Nelson. I guess Baron is the new Nash, Richardson is the new Finley, and we got Big Mike Dunleavy as the new Dirk.

Who are we kidding? The Warriors are going to be terrible.

49ers, I'm glad that shimmer of hope that they might be good has faded the last couple weeks with their lackluster performances against the Raiders and Cowboys. Perhaps they need to trade away more of the team. It's kind of crazy that the new mgmt team is establishing a new identity and is getting rid of all the older players that were drafted by the previous regime.

The Giants, glad they're playing well. It's amazing to think that perhaps 2/3's of that team won't be there next year. Right now their starting 1st, 2nd, 3rd, LF, RF are all free agents. With our best pitcher in Jason Schmidt a FA as well and count bench players - Sweeney, Finley, Greene, that's a lot of heads. Next year could be a long season, hopefully they do 1 thing right and get rid of Benitez. He's terrible.

This year:
CF Winn
SS Vizquel
1st Hillenbrand (FA)
LF Bonds (FA)
RF Alou (FA)
2nd Durham (FA)
3rd Feliz (FA)
C Alfonso

Fantasy Football, should be exciting this year with everyone playing. My co-worker told me some funny rules, 1 which I think we should implement.
1. The Winning team gets to choose the team with the worst records name for the next fantasy season (hilarious)
2. Each team has to put something new down in the "smack talk" or pay like 5 bucks - kind of stupid, but funny if everyone came up with some witty stuff.

Early favorites:
Brendan - his team seems to have the most balance, hopefully Warner doesn't get injured.
Derek - a little inconsistency in the WRs, but great RBs
Kevin - look at Derek except the other way around
Jonathan - Pretty good balance, depends on how much Deuce plays (though I am hoping very little)

Everyone else seems ordinary.

I admit my team is banking on solid running games from Bush/Gore and praying that Brees wasn't a fluke in SD and I have two #2 WRs on my team.

Ok, I think I killed enough time for one day. Hope everyone is doing well and that I see you over the long holiday!

Just read Heath Ledger has signed on to play the Joker in the next Batman movie....

Uh oh.

On a different note, sent invites to Fantasy Football, go sign up!

Okay.

Here we go.

The following tale is true. It is based on recent events in the life of someone you know. Me.


Monday

I'm at work. I get an email notification that I have a new Myspace message from John. I figure it's our tar-puffing soccer-playing chum, who I recently added, but since Myspace is blocked at work I can't read it right away.

That night. Home. I click the link to see my message, and to my surprise the photo is of a white guy who doesn't look familiar. That’s new. I have received a few random messages through Myspace, but they are invariably from girls, somewhat attractive, but clearly intended to (1) lead me to a webcam site, (2) aid this insecure gal in a high friend count contest, or (3) help me unwittingly connect with a sad, lonely man with a poor sense of humor and far too little to do.

Anyway, John's message reads:

Subject: hey

hey man

I’m new to this site. I was browsing profiles, and found yours, and liked what you said, so I thought I’d say hi. Whats up?

Okay. A bit brief and pointless, but friendly enough and possibly legit. So I check out his page to see why he contacted me in the first place--if we have common interests, etc. Clearly he is new because he has no media, no comments, and no friends besides Tom. In his main and only photo, he appears to be crouching in some grass. Sans shirt. Orientation check: Straight. So he's the outdoor type or likes showing off his body. Fine.

I figure I can be cordial and write back, but since I have no idea what this guy is about, I don't really see a point. Message ignored.


Tuesday

Another email notification. Message #2 from John. Just a day later, what does he want? Maybe he wants to say a little more about himself. Or maybe he's crazy and wants to know why I haven't written back within 24 hours. See for yourself:

Subject: question

I’m going to come right out with it…

You said in your profile you’ll try almost anything. I’m kinda like that too. I was wondering if you’d let me suck your dick…?

WHOA. Gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh. Hold on there fella. We haven't even gone on a first date yet. So now I know this is headed nowhere, and I figure it's just a lewd unfunny joke, but I'm curious if his profile has been updated with any more info. Now John has 3 friends including The Ruby Tuesday Swinger’s Club. So maybe this proposition is real? Orientation still says Straight. Sure, buddy. Straight as a rainbow.


Thoughts

Okay. Even if it was an incredibly hot girl--real and free of transmittable disease--I'm not accepting an offer like that through Myspace. It just seems like an obvious trap of some kind, with, admittedly, tantalizing bait.

But this is a GUY. Who CLAIMS to be STRAIGHT. And MY profile says, clearly and MOST accurately, STRAIGHT as well. You all know I have no problem with gay people, but I'd prefer not to be mistaken for one. And how did this guy find me? Did he search on "try anything" or do I have some kind of manlove appeal that I can't turn off? When I wrote that I'll try most anything I meant stuff like ROCK CLIMBING and FLY FISHING. NOT occasional departures from a sure and steady path of heterosexual orientation.

So there's clearly just one thing to do: refer him to Mr. 3-for-3. If you don't know who that is or what I'm referring to, I don't want to bust him out publicly.

His name rhymes with "bony".

I just want to second what Steve said. Saturday night was so much fun and I agree it was what every one of us needed. My observation was that everyone was having a good time and happy.

There's been personal drama for almost everyone, high levels of stress, etc. and we were all able to let loose and just forget our troubles for one night. It almost felt like we relived "Can't Hardly Wait" haha. I admit that details are blank in terms of what happened the last hour or 2 that I was awake, but I'll assume I didn't do anything mind boggling embarassing. haha. =)

Thanks to everyone for bringing stuff to the party and a big shout out to Shan and Steve for taking care of people and cleaning up. Also big thanks to Brendan for getting the Brady Bunch pictures done on time, I heard that was a hit!

Besides random events coming up, I know Shan has a bday coming soon with Jonathan and Andy following shortly after, so there are party opportunities arising.

Have a good week everyone!

We should have another house party. That shit was amazingly fun.

Here are some possible reasons for the next party:

1) Andy's Use of Right Hand Party
2) End of Summer Party
3) August 11th is Hulk Hogan's birthday
4) August 26th is the day that the first roller coaster was built.
5) The simple reason that we all needed the most recent party. I, for one, sure did. That being said, thanks to Jon, Andy, Bryant for throwing an awesome party. I had a great fucking time, for sure.

My Superman review:

Replace superman with juggernaut. Replace all of juggernaut's lines with the lines from that parody movie.
Lex Luthor: WRONG!
Juggernaut: Bitch you know the fuck I am? He must not know who i am...I'm the Juggernaut, BITCH! Knock you out with your own pimp! ZAP YO DUMB ASS!

I would also have liked to see Superman fly around the world again, this time in the opposite direction, so as to make time fast forward. Lex Luthor gets old, dies, and Superman thus saves the day indirectly.

Other than that, I thought the storyline was awesome, the best boy grip was amazing, and the catering was superb.

Oh did I mention that I haven't seen the movie yet?

Yeah, that's kind of important. lolz

But after reading all of these reviews, I think i'll wait for the DVD. Right now I'm getting myself psyched up to go rent Jerry Mcguire and finally watch it. Or Garden State. Or the Godfather.

My Superman review:
Since I was the only who walked out and loved the movie, I thought I should chime in.

The storyline/plot - I thought it was a very cool idea to see how the world coped without Superman and how he affects everyone's lives. Most of the other Superman movies and even the cartoon focus on how Superman affects Metropolis, but this showed a little more wordly view. (though I see the pt of terrorist attack vs bank robbery)

If you had a problem with the plot in terms of Lex's scheme in this movie, I guess you thought Superman 1's story was lame. Lex tries to break California in half to have his own land and real estate as well. In Superman 2 he wants Australia haha. He's always wanted land and he's always wanted power. Even though there are financial benefits in his eyes (regardless how feasible it is to build on the land that was given), I think he just wants power and control of something. The best part about Lex is that he's never satisfied. If his plan worked, he would just want to go bigger and better. So in terms of overall plot, I can agree that Singer might've gotten lazy because it is very similar to Superman1 just a different venue and Superman doesn't turn back time to solve the problem.

I can't comment on the realism of the scenes because you know, I'll admit I don't know what would happen in those situations if they really happened. I'm sorry that I have to use the excuse of "it's a movie" and that I purely enjoyed those scenes, but that's how it was for me. I didn't have 1 negative thought in my head when watching those. In terms of Superman's strengh, I don't know if I've ever seen a portrayal of him in the comics, movies, cartoons where he didn't show some struggle. He's pulls through and lifts whatever he wants, but there has always been a struggle for him (with really BIG things). I don't think it's ever been defined how heavy things are to Superman and how much effort he needs to put into each item.

In terms of irresponsible adult behavior - we're not saints by any means and I liked this because this seemed more real. Perhaps not flirting in front on your son with another man, but it did show me something that I could relate with. You fall in love with someone and a piece of them is always with you, even if you're with someone else. It is always tough to let go, if you've ever been in love hopefully you can sympathize with that statement. I didn't mind Superman's behavior because it shows that he's learned from human emotions and even though he's always seen as perfect, it shows that he has flaws and that he really has adapted to human society and how we behave. How is really supposed to know any better, he was raised as a human?

One thing that bugged me and always does about Superman, how does someone not notice the correlation b/w Clark being missing and Superman showing up all the time? It's not suspicious that Clark and Superman were both gone for 5 years.

I thought the special effects and his flying looked awesome. I loved how they used the Superman theme song and kept up the beginning titles to be consistent with the older movies. I enjoyed a lot of the dialogue, the humor, and the overall feel of the movie. I did like the plot twist in the end (surprise!) that I won't mention as it's a spoiler.

Random - I like how Kal Penn is in the movie but didn't really have more then 2 lines. I guess that's what happens when you're in Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle.

What I would've liked to see (SPOILER):
-More of Superman's abilities - Running, jumping
-Lois and Superman to just hook up. The chemistry is there, get rid of Cyclops.
-Scarlett Johansson (sp) as Supergirl haha.

What scares me about the Superman franchise vs the Batman/Xmen ones is the super villains. Since Superman is so powerful, besides Lex Luthor he has a lot of Alien enemies, which may turn Superman into more of a sci-fi flick that I don't think everyone will be able to identify with, but who knows.

hey as long as it's better than the Go Bots tv show and the He-man live action movie, i'll be happy.

Lemme also remind you that the last movie i saw was Saw II on my computer in four separate parts. How bad was it? Halfway through the fourth part, I went to www.themoviespoiler.com and just read the ending. Yeah. THAT bad.

I just watched that show Intervention on A&E. Holy shit I'm scared to take tylenol now.

You know I had an ounce of hope for the Transformers movie knowing that Dreamworks picked it up. Which means Spielberg wanted the franchise. Now I'm not sure if I'm learning this for the second time (perhaps the first time I heard it I blocked it out of my mind) but Bay is directing this film.

I don't care if you like The Rock. I don't care if you like The Island or any other god fucking shit that Bay has done. I have no hope for this film. I bet you the camera will be so fucking out of control that it will try to hide the fact that Bay has decided to fuck up the shape and personality of these robots in disguise.

Having no hope is the best way to go into this film. Perhaps I'll be pleasantly surprised...right.

Superman Returns Movie Review. First off I am going to say that the film didn't have a lot of religious undertones UNLESS you put them there yourself. Apparently some people think Superman is Jesus and can't be touched with criticism. To that I say screw off. I went to school to ruin films for me and by fake God I will ruin whatever movie I choose. Luckily for me Superman Returns did it all for me.

Is this film enjoyable? Sure. Is this film shot well? Yes. Did Singer do a respectable job representing Superman? Not sure. I'm not a comic book expert, but this actually might make the review more sensible since I guarantee you most people who will see this movie probably don't know every single storyline of the comic book Superman, but most likely have the image of Christopher Reeve in their head. I think Singer took Superman and got lazy. This isn't to say he ruined it totally, but definetely got lazy.

So where does this film fall short? Brandon Routh did a decent job for Superman. He almost mirrors Reeve and his nature in this film and that makes me happy. I was a little scared for Bosworth as Lois Lane, but they did need a woman that could somewhat stand on her own two feet as a hard nosed reporter willing to go the distance for a story and who better than to get someone who sailed some legendary coast with crazy waves in Blue Crush? Although at times she was very timid and I'm thinking someone along the lines of Rachel McAdams would have done a better job in bringing an edge to Lois. As long as it wasn't Dunst I'm happy. Kevin Spacey was pretty good as Lex Luthor also. I thought he might be too over the top with that "WRONGGGGGGG!!!" line, but he seemed to have the part under control. HOWEVER, almost every single actor interview I watch on Inside Actor's Studio always thank a script for the awesome job they did in the film. Basically none of these actors had a chance to shine in this script.

I am with Andy 100 percent. Let me set aside the obvious physical bullshit of the film. I'm not asking for realism here. I mean this guy in tights gets his power from the sun and is fucking invincible. Obviously any universe that allows such things can't be expected to yield to realism. So besides almost every single action scene having a moment of "Yeah okay..." vibe the story and character developement is where this shit falls short.

The story line is absolutely retarded. Apparently me saying so means that I am saying if you believed the storyline you are retarded also. This isn't the case, but to each his own. Walking out of the movie theatre, a piece of me almost wished there was more blatant religious undertones if it would at least somehow put a more symbolic plan into action on Lex Luthor's part in his part of EVIL vs. GOOD. So let me get this straight...Lex Luthor who is a criminal mastermind wants to kill billions of people to make new land...just so he can turn around and make money legally by charging rent? Ridiculous.

I was laughing inside because there is this one part (don't worry not a spoiler) where Superman can hear everything in the world. Apparently this is why he needed a break from Earth and decided to cut out for five years. Quitter. But anyway, he hears all sorts of explosions (terror attacks perhaps?) but he decides to go stop a bank robbery instead. His bar for justice has gotten way lower in the past 20 years or so...

For a film that is going to spend 2 hours of my time...don't tell a story that could have been told in a cartoon segment. Or at the very least have some character development. Most of these characters just drift through the script and its actions scenes (perhaps the movie studio had to have a certain quota of action) until it reaches the end and like Andy I feel that Superman could have used more of his powers to "defeat" Lex. Also I thought Kryptonite made Superman cringe. I guess Lex Luthor creating more land out of Kyptonite doesn't effect Superman until Lex is able to push him down some stairs? Superman is even suprised to think that Lex could even do something...man you would think that you would have felt a little queezy flying over the HUGE ASS KRYPTONITE ROCK. Even Lex Luthor at the end seemed more like, "oh well...that damn Superman...he can really be a tough guy!" rather than revengeful and full of determination to really kill him in the next film.

I wish I could comment more on the character arcs, but the film did such a lackluster job in doing so that I have nothing to comment on. It really suprised me that Singer who did Usual Suspects with interweaving storylines and a film that relies on nothing but character development to drive the story would be happy with this script.

So in conclusion the film is a good popcorn movie. I myself might be getting a little anal about shit, but I don't go into what you went into school for and say, "why don't you just plug in these numbers here, what difference does it make?" I think I've been trained to see past all the hype and am sick of the excuse of, "It's just a movie" to answer all the reality problems and lack of certain things in a certain film. That isn't to say that you can't enjoy the film fully if you didn't go into my major, but the bar is definetely higher for me personally when it comes to films.

Superman Returns was an okay movie. You could easily enjoy it don't get me wrong. The main problem I have with it is that the story (better one) and perhaps more realism here and there could have made this film awesome. They had a good director who was able to appease the Xmen fanatics and they had good talent on their hands. The time was right where even 5 years ago I think the special effects would have looked shitty...but this film did a decent job in it's special effects. The cinematography was done by the same person who did Confessions of a Dangerous Mind and Three Kings who I thought did an awesome job at both. He also did Xmen, but those didn't really impress me that much...as did Superman Returns.

The film will probably be okay for comic book fans. It doesn't shit on Superman, but it doesn't really bring Superman into the present day. I think him leaving for five years was the perfect catalyst for him to come back to a darker reality. Perhaps being symbolically linked with today's real life...instead Superman is back to his old antics as if it was in the past. I think it instead it would have been cool to come out of the theatre saying something along the lines of, "Man, perhaps there is hope for mankind...(Show that Superman needs humans just as much we need him)" rather than "That was a way to escape reality for 2 hours...but if I wish it would have been shorter so I could return sooner to reality...the film must be hugely flawed for me.

I find it ironic that I say the film is flawed, but in my opinon there is nothing more boring than a perfect superhero with no flaws to speak of. Unless you count voyeurism.

If you are a misplaced person with misplaced faith (haha, send the hatemail to Hommeikun1@aol.com) then you will undoubtly see Superman or any other type of action hero as a savior since you can relate to it. However, I was talking more about like what the directors did to the Matrix. Neo was Jesus. And they kept talking about all this religious stuff rather than making Neo just a cool fucking dude. And I think we can all agree that Matrix Parts II and III were garbage because they got so lost in the religious crap that they forgot how to tell a story. I'm going by what the directors have stated in interviews by the way.

Since I'm not religious I don't see any superhero as being some higher type being, but rather a character some writer had the creativity to come up with. Obviously since religion is a universal thing with the basics of Good Vs. Evil then you can relate this to any comic book storyline. That's cool. However, I think a lot of comic book writers are using their characters as a way to respond to social problems and human flaws that we have. I don't necessarily think they mean for the character to be "God" or "Jesus" and all I'm stating is that if Bryan Singer has the crazy vision of making Superman = Jesus then you get the equation Superman = Jesus = Neo = Matrix Trilogy = Garbage = Superman Sucks By Association.

You are going to have to forgive me for this post. All throughout school all I heard our teachers and retarded classmates talk about washow a movie relates to God then go on to speak about homosexuality then it got into a God hates faggots VS GLAAD. It was almost a cop out in certain respects. Dont' have anything to say about the film we just watched? Well let's compare it to religion. AGAIN. AND AGAIN. AND AGAIN AGAIN AND AGAIN. And while you can say that I'm doing that right now...all I'm saying is that I'm threatening Bryan Singer's life if he fucks up Superman.

Haha! Man I for one though hope this movie doesn't suck. It's been too long that we've been waiting for this movie. I can't wait until Doomsday comes up out of the ground and pounds Superman to a crisp. Then Kristin comes out and showers...but then we find out its a body double then I go kill myself and send myself down to hell where I belong. Werd.

I don't have a lot of time to dwell on this, but just at a high level, I think all writers of comic/superhero stories put a sort of "God" complex on their characters.

I dunno if they would go as far as saying they are a savior, but they are really portrayed in that manner. Crazy dude/mutant comes to destroy the world, no hope, except for _________. (insert name) Even like in Batman, the cops don't like him, but they come to rely on him. Batman (orginal Michael Keaton) is one example, any trouble they get in they use the bat signal immediately, conceding that they need this person to survive.

I see Justice League almost being correlated with the Greek Gods where a bunch of dudes with a lot of power kind of oversee the Earth. They're not ruling persay, but they are the world's savior from all-powerful beings that show up.

It's kind of funny because a lot of these storylines start out where the humans/non-heroes start out by hating the heroes because they're different -> then they start accepting them because they do something good for them, not because they're just accepting -> then they start relying on them for any and every problem.

I don't really know where I was going with this, just thought of the savior aspect and seeing how it relates to not just Superman.

Religion is interesting subject that everyone differs upon in terms of their thoughts. I think the important part is to have a belief, have a passion in something and to have faith. For some people they rely on a higher being to talk to, to give them strength and for others they just believe in and rely on themselves. Whatever you choose, but I don't believe these can be flaws.

I think life is more flawed by $$, greed, politics and lawyers haha.

Have a good week!

so...hot weather we're having these days, huh?

zzzz.

Let's fucking give some life to this god damned dead blog. Just a quick post to make sure no one has expectations of the new Superman. First off I really think they should have superimposed Reeve's face on the new guy...or at least give him a wheelchair. I mean Prof. X is pretty fucking sick. Surely they could have filmed this before Reeve died. Also some critics have said this was like the Passion of the Superman. The savior of the human race with even some hints of religious undertones in how they pose or show Superman. I haven't seen the movie so I'm not sure if this is true...but if it is then Bryan Singer can suck a dick. Yeah even the Usual Suspects couldn't save him in my mind if I do in fact see religious undertones in a superhero movie. Life is already flawed with religion in it...don't fuck up Superman with it.

Case and point? The Matrix.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jAc1G3u-hxs

Sometimes it's funnier to hear it being spoken by the man himself. (I could be slightly dated though... I just had too much time on the net)

Does anyone know when the SJ Obon is by chance?

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

This commercial is hilarious:
Pig & Bear Get Taken for a Ride

Ok not to toot my own horn, but some good news....

I know I have been bitchin' for months about my job and worrying about getting promoted, etc. Well it finally happened. On Tuesday it was announced that I have moved up to becoming a Staff Software Engineer (before I was just a S/W Engineer). Technically my role as an Engineer is a Project Manager (don't ask me how that works).

It took me 3 years and I'm just happy to finally get recognized for the work that I do.

I would like to go out and celebrate perhaps this weekend. Dinner and some drinks, dunno if anyone would be interested. Just let me know...

Thanks for anyone who has listened to me moan about my work, I appreciate it!

E3

Another quick post, but this trailer for the new smash brothers blew me away :)

Smash Bros

Thanks for everyone who came out to my playoff games, I appreciate it and I hope you'll be able to come watch me in my next season (starts next week). If any of you have any sort of feedback on my play, I would love to hear it. I strive to get better week to week, so any comments would be awesome.

Funny thing I saw yesterday on a license plate:
License Plate Holder - "Yes Thank You, I am a Model"
License Plate -"RUADIVA"

Why is this funny? There was a big skater looking dude, gotee, backwards hat driving a VW with this on there. Must be a cool gf that he has haha, might be worse if it's his car.

Giants vs Dodgers tonight, I'm very excited, hopefully Bonds will knock 714....woo hoo!

Kevin, glad to hear you got your dog back. That would have sucked major donkey asses if you had lost him. Next time, give the dog some special brownies before you go. That way the dog will be too lazy to leave even if he could.

I'm already itching to go back to vegas. Nuts huh? There's just so much more to do, and those poker games were so damn soft, holy crap.

I think i'm gonna pass on the ps 2 and just wait for the nintendo WHEEEEEEEEE. I heard a rumor that it's gonna sell for 249, which beats the PS3's price tag of 600 mother fucking dollars. Plus, with the Wii's controller, I figure I'll get some exercise since i'll be waving that weird ass controller around like a fucking idiot while i'm playing.

My parents are finally getting a new TV (I think we've had the same TV for I dunno how many years now...basically my parents have purchased one TV in my life time). I asked my parents when they were gonna buy one, and they said "we dont know anything about this stuff. We're waiting for you to tell us which one to get". wtf. "okay, get the 72 inch plasma" "oh is that good?" "oh you better believe". sick. lets just hope they dont ask how much it is until it's already packed up in the car. lolz. nah probably gonna get a 42 inch LCD. or something.

Steve: PS2

Sorry for the double post, but ToysRUs/Amazon has a PS2 with 2 games (Stupid games... Jak II and Ratchet and Clank: Going Commando) for 99 + 4.49 shipping. You can even get a free toy with the code: TYRTUFREETOY at check out.

Oblivion

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought Brethesda actually created the textures for the topless women, but locked it out. Then some random person said, "hey, if I just change a few lines of code and make it point to the topless textures, I get boobies!"

Of course I haven't been following it too closely as I can't play the stupid game without updating my computer. (Same goes for F.E.A.R. and Civ IV of all things...) *runs back to Rohnert Park*

I can't remember the last time that wrote a sincere blog in this thing. And since i'm taking another break (finally finished calculating the mean and standard deviation across the individual groups in my study...aka nyerd shit), i figured i would.

The thesis is being written. But I've been so goddamn nervous writting a report before. I feel like every fucking sentence needs to be golden cuz I mean, this is IT. If this shit sucks, then i go back to the computer and start writing again. And it has to be solid by May 15, cuz that's when the 20 grill session is. They call it a thesis defense. Fifteen minutes of presentation, and then five minutes of questions by the advisors. The hard thing about that is I dont think 15 minutes is enough time for me to explain everything. UGH.

Nikkei Matsuri is coming up. I'm looking forward very much to the food. oh, the food.

I've put back on the weight i lost over the past three weeks since i've been at the computer nonstop with this thesis. I'm back to my fatter mode. yay. Once this thesis is done, i think i am gonna get a personal trainer. If that doesn't work, then i'm going to go to jenny craig, and then hopefully i can appear in one of their commercials with the used to be fat, but are now thin older ladies dancing around.

Maybe this not a good time for nikkei matsuri to come around.

On the other hand, Tony will be back just in time to chill and eat with us. That's definitely something to celebrate.

Other news..

Some people need to learn patience and calm down with their "next day shipping". You can wait a few more days for a jacket cuz it ain't getting cold anytime soon. lolz. But then again, it IS a NIPPON jacket, and anything that has the Japanese flag on it needs to be shipped as soon as possible. you should have done next day shipping for those damn chips. hahaha. okay okay you ordered them, i'll stop giving you shit.

Lindz was hit on by the most relentless guy i've ever seen hit on a girl. See my blog for details.

I'm tired of geometry wars. However, PS2 is not being sold for 130!!! That's quite a big drop in price. I may have to buy one. However, gamecube is still 100. Oh the dilemma. Or maybe I could exercise instead. yeah that's probably better.

Since I realize that I won't have my pictures up on my website until the main page is done...although I do plan to get my photography section up first so that is some good news...I thought I would post up some of my favorite Disneyland photos. Thanks for your patience...trust me...it was well worth it.

*EDITED BECAUSE THAT ANIMATION WAS GETTING ME DIZZY. THE LINK IS STILL BELOW.

MAN...I AM ON A ROLL TONIGHT GETTING STUFF DONE. THE DISNEYLAND PICTURES ARE ALL FUCKING FINISHED. ALL 290 OF THEM. I thought I would finish up this animation because my porn subscription ran out...

http://www.mentalabstraction.com/Posts/test.gif

Okay real quick...I've been trying to catch up on some photos...and here is the group picture we had at Disneyland. Man..this could be a framed photo...in Jonathan and Bryant's living room...haha.

Okay here are some updates on the pokerchips. If you see anything wrong with the graphics let me know ASAP. I have until Monday to give her the final go-ahead.



And finally...what will Bryant bug me about now? Besides making something of my life?

Holy shit. Today was the absolute worst day in my life.

I think that Andy and I perfected the brownie recipe. All it takes is just some downtime from when you bake it and eat it.

Holy fuck.

I spent my entire shift in the office. With my boss laughing at me. Over the trash can. Dry heaving. I ate 3 1/2 at around 8ish last night. It is now 9:00 pm the next day and I am still FUCKED UP.

Moderation is the key. And for all that want to try these in the future...2 is probably max for myself. If you want to fly for the next 24 hours...eat 4.

STOP SPINNING.

Ok so I got this email from a woman from work who forwarded an email she got from her husband. I was laughing my ass off (maybe because I know her).

"I just cut the s%$# out of my hand on a glass in the kitchen - right to
the bone, gnarly - called the doctor's office, no doctor today, told the
nurse what happened, she says I'll have to go to urgent care on the other
side of town, that's a guaranteed 4 hour stop, f$%# that. So, I found the
tackle box and got out the lightest line in there (8 lb, 4 would have been
nicer) and Rambo'ed it myself. Kept bending needles, they must have
pointy ones at the e.r.!! After I got'r done, I loosened up the stitches
and walk outside and dumped a s%$#load of denatured alcohol on it,
screamed, and tightened 'em up. Mint, huh?

P.S. - That'll teach me to do the dishes, f%$#in dangerous job...... "

Interesting that my boss sent me this:
http://directory.help.com/classes/providers/cnet/homeentertainment/

May be interesting for those caring about their Home Theatre System. I haven't looked into it in too much detail, but could be interesting.

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Responding to the comments:

Tony: First of all...they aren't OUR pictures. They are MY pictures. Maybe you should have brought your own camera sucka. Hardy har har har.

Kevin: Wait? Were you in any of the Xmas pictures? Perhaps if you didn't bring your stupid dog in my house I would want to work on these pictures...instead I have to delete the little runt out of my folders. That's what is taking so long. So there!

Bryant: Weren't those pictures supposed to be done 5 months ago? YOu mean you never got the email? Haha. But have no fear...I'm gonna work on some of them tonight. No seriously, I am.

Haha! Since Myspace decides to only let small as pictures on each profile because Myspace sucks I'm going to share the photos here in real quality. Also for the record I didn't do these solely for Myspace. Since I have no fucking photos of myself with this camera...I thought I might as well break out the lights, cardboard reflector and have at it.

Good Night and Good Luck definetely had an impact on these shots. So did The Ring obviously. Since I don't have my own site up just yet...I thought I'd share the HQ ones here. Hope the last one gives you nightmares. Who am I kidding. That picture sucks.

A scam or is this worth 20 bucks?

http://www.ebgames.com/product.asp?product%5Fid=802205

Holy jesus shit. Okay the chips are a little bit more than originally planned and I was just going to give away an extra 100 chips (10 sets of all 10 chips) but to make things interesting I'm thinking that instead...if you win a tournament you get a set of 5 chips. That way you need to win 2 to get the whole collection. I dunno. I still would like to give a set to each person who plays in our games regularly, but why not make them earn it a little bit?

Haha and Boaz and Rich and anyone other random fucker you bring into the game will never win so I don't have to worry about giving them chips. But if they do win...they get nothing of course. Haha.

Okay some tweaks and updates. First lemme address some of the comments for all.

Eecs - That fucking devil has made me the evil person I am today. I joke about killing babies with nothing but forks and toothpicks, but the rage is there all because of this devil. If you played the game you know that he dances and prances around your ass with no known pattern known to man. This made him impossible to kill every single time, you just had to hope you weren't in your boxers by the time you got to him or else you died. Then you had to hear that stupid map theme song. I can't think of another enemy besides the whole game of spelunker that pissed me off more. Therefore he gets in out of a weird sense of respect I have for this fucker. You were right about the colors. Check out the new proof sheet to see if they are more vibrant. I printed this out to make sure that the words were still visible which is why the outer ring might be a little dull...needed to be for readability.

Bryant - Wishes the triforce could be on a different chip. Wait till he sees the chocolates in person. He'll wish he could eat em up!

Steve - Hopefully I can get these ordered in the next couple of days unless someone sees something terribly wrong with the design or layout.

So here it is. The colors of the backs are redone. Kirby and Bomberman no longer sandbagging. (Haha...I was laughing when I read that comment by Jonathan). Take a look.

Sweet. Those look about ready for print, besides perhaps...

I really like how you added different colors to the backs. I would try to equalize the saturation of color in the circle portion with the words, because some seem much more subtle than others, making them look dull/grey.

I assume you really like all those characters. I was never into Ghosts'n'Goblins, so I would ax the devil guy. To me, that image is of too minor an aspect of the game, and lacks the charm that the others exude without effort or winged backs.

Is that really an 8-bit rendition of Kirby? The shading and pixel size look suspiciously fine compared to the rest. I get the feeling that puffy pink punk is sandbagging. With that infuriating smile and disturbing lone ear.

Tony makes a good point. I suggest you buy an extra 10,000 chips and sell many small "exclusive collector's edition" sets on eBay for profits that boggle the brain. Who takes copyright law seriously these days? Prudes, and people who are afraid of prison, that's who. Chickens. Yes.

Like em?

Yellow = Piss

Tony's comments don't mean anything because he doesn't know what he is talking about. I think he majored in soccer. Haha.

I tried to brighten the picture on the title, but it does distract. I will not know what goes here until I actually take pictures and choose something that I could bring out that doesn't go against the white font.

Fuck the color yellow. Asians are known as yellow people. I think we are done with the yellow. Haha.

Bryant - What do you mean by your comment? You mean you want blue on the right and left right? Well I'll do a mockup so you can see it, but I thought it was a little too plain. But again I'm the artist and I'm biased toward my opinion! Haha! So I'll post it soon so you can check it out.

Haha. I was gonna edit my original post so it looks like Andy pointed out all the things that I said not to worry about because he is an idiot. But I decided to give him some credit because he did say somethings that I had issues with also. Plus in my haste to get to sleep I decided to leave out all the things you shouldn't have to worry about in your critiques.

- Don't worry about the exclamation points. Hell...that isn't even what the welcome message is going to be. I was just filling it in to see the composition!!!!!!!!!!

- I haven't decided whether the main text in the middle window is going to be html based which is why it has such a hard edge to it. Perhaps inserting the text as graphics will help streamline the whole design?

- None of these pictures are of our food. I still need to go take the pictures that you see at every restaurant...you know like Carrows and their dessert items menu.

- That window on the bottom right I think will be to put up some messages like "buy gift certificates" or "buy a shirt" (which I don't even think we carry anymore haha) or "buy bottled our bottled sauce" blah blah blah.

- That isn't our logo either. I didn't feel like doing a good logo just yet because I am lazy.

Again the main thing I'm concerned about is the webpage itself. Perhaps it looks a little too modern or too should I say...sophisticated for the caliber of our restaurant. I mean our restaurant isn't a sit down and dine sort of place...well I guess it could be...I dunno. Keep the responses coming.

Okay so here is a quick design of the Tomo's website. My family gave me a menu and a bottle and said have at it. Unfortunately I don't get my own timeline so I can't take forever on this site. So I did this one in like two hours in photoshop from 4-6 am...so I'm tired and cranky. Lemme know any first impressions that you have. Complaints, compliments...anything is cool. ONLY SERIOUS CRITIQUES THOUGH so I can get this site rolling. Thanks!

I'm going to say this as simple as possible. This is about the custom chips and how Steve won't get off my nuts for ordering them...well here is the announcement...there are still certain things that must be met but here it is...

I am pretty sure that since I am a ChipTalk member that I can get these edge spot designs...these aren't the finalized ones but please take a look at what you can do. Color combos would be turned down at the time of order so pretty much anything right now is in the planning stages. Lemme see some mockups people! Fuck...I better get really cracking on these inlays before this offer goes away!

The Office is cool. However, ignore the message at the end, because no one is awesome here (myself included)

In case any of you were thinking, "you know what I want kids"

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-982704336400793600

So in case any of you want to go to a game and feel the need for a formal invite, here is my schedule for the rest of the hockey season:

3/29: 915 PM against Charlie Brown (rink 1)
4/5: 615 PM against Tripods (rink 1)
4/12: 915 PM against Smell the Glove (rink 1)
4/19: 6:15 PM against Dolphina (rink 2)
4/26: 11:15 PM against ShotsAllAround (rink 1)

So 5 games into the season I finally scored my first goal, improvement is there every week, but I should have a lot more production. We'll see how the season goes, but thanks to all who have come out already to support the lowly Korean.

aight another video.

HOLY SHIT THIS IS FUCKING FUNNY.

OMFG.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=6QXUXQ8miHs&search=juggernaut%20bitc

omg. oky seriously..these two videos had me cracking up for a LONG time. The second link had me CRYING from laughing so hard. I thought I was gonna piss my pants from how hard i was laughing.


http://www.break.com/index/snowboardhead19.html


http://www.break.com/index/bottlehead16.html

Thanks Jonathan for the research you put into this. Again I will say again that unless we want ceramic chips and/or want to buy thousands of chips...the four edgespots and the six edgespots are impossible. I've looked around a lot of reputable sights and no one does these kind of chips unless we want to go down in quality.

The other cool thing about buying from this company is that they did the Rounders movie so all their colors will be exactly the same as in the film. I see your point about the KGB chips being kind of worthless if we can't get the same edgespots, but I'm pretty sure waiting around for it is a mistake considering they already told me it is impossible.

So alas I think the three is our only choice. I should have my colors picked out...I like the ones you did except for the shit brown and yellow urine color. Also since you picked out 12 colors...1200 chips would be necessary. I'll sleep on this tonight and try to figure out what I wanna do...

Following our conversation the other day, here is someone's take on the worst video game box art.

I remember being confused by Phalanx and disgusted by Bust-A-Move. I do not, however, remember Bionic Granny.

Poker Chips

Ready-to-order simplicity



So at some point, realizing how heavy 1000+ chips would be, I thought storing them in two cases rather than one would be practical. This led to my idea of two complementary sets, which could be used individually, or combined when a higher total chip count would improve our lives and demeanors. The first set contains the traditional casino colors (blue/red/green/black/purple), with KGB’s spot colors where applicable, and the second set is a splendid-looking customized set (grey/orange/dk blue/brown/lt yellow). Note that the color schemes are visually similar for each chip value, for elegant symmetry and memorization convenience. The 300/100/100/50/50 count works for each 600-chip set, or 250/100/50/50/50 for matching 500-chip sets.

Note on the chip count: A single set of 500 or 600 is more than enough for all our home games; 1000+ chips could accurately be identified as overkill. While increasing the count of low-value chips allows everyone to have big stacks even when a lot of people are playing, it also reduces the use of the higher-value chips. Recall that we seldom touch my purple chips. You could just go with some version of the customized set, since it's uniquely personalized, and it's somewhat pointless to have the KGB colors when the spots don’t match up. But if you're sure you want a huge set (that effectively makes all our other chips obsolete), hopefully you'll get a lifetime of use out of them. I do like having big stacks available, and love the variety of color, but I also like having money. Either choice is easily justifiable.


Heightened difficulty and reward



Way back around the time I received my poker chip set, I was perusing the Web sites and couldn’t decide what number of edge spots looked best. Due to this recent return to the wild world of colorful clay, I have decided that I like four. It looks better balanced than three, and less cluttered than six. So if I had to choose one style it would be with four small edge spots, like KGB’s green/orange and black/green chips in Rounders. I’d think they must sell these somewhere, but who knows.

But even better, I think, would be a set combining different styles and colors, again like KGB’s (with the six-spotted purple/peach chips). The variety would look interesting and also help remind players of the values of the different colored chips. This option might take more time to complete (and yes, might be impossible), but I'd check around about this.


Unattainable perfection



Dazzling the eye and the heart, the rainbow chip is by leaps and bounds the most coveted poker chip ever made. Unfortunately for the common man, it is so valuable that only a few emperors and sultans in the world could ever afford to buy in for one. The lamentable result is that pokerchips.com does not make it available to the general public. Such is life… we dream for a moment of the wonders that might have been, shed a lone tear, and carry on.

this is an animated gif. Let the whole thing load first, and then watch it. Fucking hilarious doesn't even BEGIN to describe it.

http://x87.xanga.com/cf7b507135c3034364129/b21583118.gif

the fat punk deserved it. You don't that shit in public, especially in front of your friends house. And JLP doesn't put up with that shit. lol.

Anyone else thinks this is weird?

Al Michaels gets traded for some cartoon -> ABC to NBC

ESPN Article

Andy needs to shut his mouth considering he will never be looking at these chips. Haha.

Yes I think I'm going to buy 1100. Unless we decide to only get 50 of the purple and 50 of the chocolate. Let me know what you think.

I tried the green, but it was very hard to get anything to look decent while trying to keep the edge spots unique. Plus you have to realize that the question mark chip is the one that will be worth the most. So we thought perhaps something clean looking rather than all colorful (besides the rainbow chips that they won't let us do). Hence the blacks with the gray or blacks with the white. Although green could mean that you are in the money...

But Steve said that green/blue and green/brown makes him think of a globe. Now that he told me that, that is all I can see as well. Thanks Steve. Haha. Also Steve has expressed that the blue chips that I put up on the choices picture reminds him of the old days of when we used to play. This makes him think of Scott. Then it makes him want to leave. Haha.

The reason for the 1100 Jonathan is because I really thought we were missing a blue from my pallette. And considering blue is one of my favorite colors, I couldn't see excluding it from the set. Also if I ever wanted to purchase blue in the future, I would have to buy a minimum of 300 for a new order. Might as well get colors that I want before I have to buy 300 of them just to have em. Please let me know if this should actually change any of the numbers that we should have of each.

Let me say right off the bat my favorite ones so far that have been picked are the black/DG green obviously because of rounders and the poker superstars colors of Yellow/blue. That brown is also sick.

SO LET ME SAY AGAIN TO ANDY WHO ONCE AGAIN WON'T EVEN TOUCH THESE CHIPS...THESE ARE NOT THE ONLY COLOR CHOICES ON THE TOP. LET ME KNOW.

NARROWING DOWN THIS SHIT IS PRETTY FUCKING TOUGH....LEMME KNOW WHAT YOU THINK SO FAR. SORRY TO JONATHAN ABOUT THE RAINBOW CHIPS. I AGREE THAT WOULD HAVE MADE MY SET COMPLETE AND UNIQUE...BUT ALAS POKERCHIPS.COM WON'T DO IT FOR ME UNLESS I ORDER A SHITLOAD MORE...LIKE 500K

http://uploads.ungrounded.net/285000/285267_ultimateshowdown.swf

another video. It's only funny because of the various 80s/90s icons in it. Turn on the subtitles too.

Hi all,
Two reasons for the post.

1. Kevin had some funny Chuck Norris quotes on his Myspace comments:

-Chuck Norris once ate three 72 oz. steaks in one hour. He spent the first 45 minutes having sex with his waitress

-They once made a Chuck Norris toilet paper, but it wouldn't take shit from anybody

-If Chuck Norris is late, time better slow the fuck down

-Chuck Norris could have any woman he wants, but he has never had sex. He only masturbates because the only person good enough to have sex with Chuck is Chuck

-Chuck Norris sleeps with a night light. Not because Chuck Norris is afraid of the dark, but the dark is afraid of Chuck Norris

-In fine print on the last page of the Guinness Book of World Records it notes that all world records are held by Chuck Norris, and those listed in the book are simply the closest anyone else has ever gotten

-Chuck Norris is not hung like a horse... horses are hung like Chuck Norris

-When Chuck Norris has sex with a man, it won't be because he is gay. It will be because he has run out of women.

-In a recent survey it was discovered the 94% of American women lost their virginity to Chuck Norris. The other 6% were incredibly fat or ugly.

-Chuck Norris does not have AIDS but he gives it to people anyway.

-When Chuck Norris does a pushup, he isn't lifting himself up, he's pushing the Earth down.

2. Got a game Wednesday @ 715PM. This one could be entertaining for two reasons, 1 we're playing a Japanese FOB team that I think is funny. Another is this is pretty much a must win for our team to have a shot at the playoffs. We're 2 - 5 - 1, the other team is 3 - 5. If we win we'll move ahead of them in the standings (sadly they're in the last spot for the playoffs). Our game next week is also another must win to guarantee us a spot in the playoffs, but we'll take one week at a time. So if you want to come out (I know traffic is jizzy at that time) please do. We can meet for dinner downtown and take Monterey to avoid traffic if you so desire. Let me know. (Last time we played this team, I laid out two helpless Japanese girls that were trying to move me from the middle, a reoccurence is imminent.) haha

Alright Peace!

http://www.wimp.com/fiveanimals/

again, watch all the way to the end. That walrus is the shit yo.

http://www.hcn.zaq.ne.jp/cabic508/rsf/frame1.html

watch all the way to the end. hilarious.

18 MONTHS COMES DOWN TO THIS...FREEDOM OF ARTISTIC EXPRESSION WITHOUT MOZILLA HOLDING ME BACK...

MY FUCKING GOD. MY DEAR FUCKING GOD. For those who don't know anything about my struggles with MentalAbstraction...ever since people have started using Mozilla and it was pointed out to me in numerous emails that my site didn't work with Mozilla I have been researching on and off for as long as I can remember trying to figure out WHY it wouldn't work. I posted in numerous forums with no one being able to help me. I've researched large amount of Flash sites and Mozilla sites trying to figure this out. I even bought multiple books on Flash/HTML to try to figure this out...and finally...at 4:23 AM...I FINALLY FIGURED IT OUT.

You might be saying...big fucking deal. Well let me tell you that my opening page has over 50 layers of graphics. A large amount having code embedded in it, it was tough to troubleshoot everything. Going over and over code, publishing sites, uploading, testing over and over and over...for over 18 months finally has paid dividends. You guys can check if you want to. The INFO, TRADITIONAL AND DIGITAL WORKS TO A CERTAIN EXTENT WHILE THE OTHER BUTTONS HAVEN'T BEEN CHANGED YET. As long as it loads I can make any other page load.

Sorry for sounding very excited...but as far as personal achievments go...this is right up there. I have never worked on something for 18 months without having some kind of growth toward optimism...this case was an all or nothing. It either worked or it didn't. Now if only I could beat the third level of Spelunker I could die a happy man. So what does this mean to everyone?

Well pretty much nothing...EXCEPT for the fact that I can finally start production on MentalAbstraction.com V2.0, and I can finally get a legit photography section up and I can finally do the cool things that I wanted to do with Ricki's online portfolio. Oh man oh man...I'm so happy.

I was going to post a large blog, but Steve told me he was gonna wake me up tomorrow morning since I didn't have work and he would be in the area...so I better get to bed. I can hardly wait to work on my site again...

Interesting way to water cool your Xbox 360 if you so desire...

http://www.hardocp.com/article.html?art=OTM5LDE=


With all the political talk, I found this...

I also know little of politics, and I'm only sporadically into video games. So video game legislation is far beyond my realm of interest.

But the described situation does provide for discussion.

I don't see a problem with the required-ratings legislation (besides the cost of time and money, obviously better spent on more urgent problems). In fact, from my understanding it is on gamers' side.

You want to be able to play games with mature themes. I agree this should be allowed. Some parents don't want their little kids playing these games. Fine.

A rating system will help. It exists. It is used.

But no law requires it be used. <-- foreshadowing

Here's a little story to illustrate...

(1) A new company makes a game full of graphic sex and violence, not to mention a 4-letter word in every sentence spoken by the realistically-rendered 3D characters. Clearly the game is worth a purchase.
(2) The company craftily designs the game box with all manner of harmless wholesome cartoon characters. No rating is there to be found.
(3) The kids who read magazines and the Web find out what the game is really like. Naturally, they want it.
(4) Their parents buy it for them because the box looks harmless. The kids only play in their rooms or when their parents aren't around. Often without pants.
(5) The kids show their friends, who also trick their parents into buying it. Many circles of trust are broken.
(6) One day a parent comes home from work early to find a 7-year-old latchkey kid beating up a hooker. Rage ensues.
(7) Parents tell parents. The whole world is mad. Child abuse skyrockets.
(8) Some parents demand that games not be allowed to have this kind of content.
(9) Someone more sensible suggests a rating system be required. The best way to ensure that is to make it law. It is done.
(10) Someone even more sensible says "We knew this was what we needed, why didn't we do this long ago? A temporary lapse in violation does not eliminate the need for law."

Why would the company choose this path? I don't know. People are silly sometimes. They don't think long term. I can't be held accountable for every video game company executive's faulty decision. I just make up the utterly unbelievable stories.

How is the rating issue handled with movies? Is there a law? I never knew or cared.

And what about books? Is no one concerned because no one reads anymore? There is some adult stuff filling up public libraries across the nation. And I've been taking advantage since I was 5.