pres.umptuo.us

• Japanese Tetris Video. I died when he broke the wall.

  Monday June 11, 2007

My views on consumerism and the value of money have changed so much that I didn’t even bother blogging when the Apple iPhone was released. Things like gadgets and cars that I used to drool over no longer matter to me as much as they used to. Granted I’ve still had many discussions with friends about the iPhone and its impact on the cell phone industry, but it’s not a product I’m going to be owning myself for at least a couple of years.

My point is that a lot of my interests are no longer all that blogworthy, and the rising popularity of community link sites such as Digg and Reddit have rendered a lot of my quickies redundant. So let’s see what’s been going on in my interesting life.

My roommate bought a munchkin cat and he’s both cute and annoying at the same time. Annoying cause he loves biting feet and apparently when I fight with the cat it looks like a big kid trying to discipline another kid. It’s not my fault that he likes drinking my herb tea and getting his head stuck in my chair and unrolling the toilet paper.

I’ve been on track with my reading resolution. So far this year I’ve read:

• Gould’s Book of Fish
• Being Dead
• Life of Pi
• The Things They Carried

I’m currently reading “Fortress of Solitude,” although it’s a heftier book, so we’ll see if I can stay on track and still finish two books this month. No one asked for reviews, but I’ll give ‘em anyway. Gould’s Book of Fish: eh. Being Dead: eh. Life of Pi: Alright. The Things They Carried: Highly recommended.

300 comes out in theaters this Friday. It’s the first movie I’ve been really interested in for a long while. I’ve got tickets for the Friday Imax viewing, and it’ll be all the better for the sweet CG renders. I’ll be disappointed if I don’t come out of the theater shouting “SPARTA!”

After sampling Supreme Commander and Command & Conquer 3, neither of them can stack up against Company of Heroes in the RTS realm. Granted I’ve heard multiplayer is a vastly different experience for both games, but from the single-player demos I tried, they didn’t even come close. Both games had essentially the same strategy of building up a giant force and then sending them out to crush the other side. CoH has the constant back-and-forth of holding key territory and choosing the right upgrade at the right time. I’d like to hear what the really good CoH players think of Supreme Commander and C&C3.

My health benefits kicked in as soon as I started my new (old) job, and a regular check-up for me was in order. I can’t say I was too surprised to hear my cholesterol is a little high, although a bit scary for sure. I’ve been on a “lazy” diet ever since, consisting mostly of Subway and Souplantation and lots of fruit every day. I still indulge myself every once in a while, but always in moderation. I go back to the doctor’s in about a week to see how my month-long diet has been helping.

I started watching Battlestar Galactica. The first season was a bit slow but still interesting, but then they ended it on an amazing cliffhanger. The first episodes of season 2 were just amazing with the story development and several main characters in peril, and of course season 2 ended with another great cliffhanger. Now I need to download season 3 and try to catch up with the regular network airings.

Dwight: Do you ever watch Battlestar Galactica?
Guy: No.
Dwight: No? Then you are an idiot.

I am in the midst of changing jobs right now, and with that the changing of zip codes. I am heading back to Irvine and finally moving out on my own, and living across the street from a Tapioca Express, which means I will smell like noodles and boba.

As many people have oh so cleverly noted, I’m becoming the Fight Club guy with all my Ikea furniture and browsing through the catalog while taking a poop. I am very sore from building Ikea furniture, and their breakfast is about as good as you’d expect from a $1.99 breakfast (I went for the deluxe. I roll big.)

I played with the Wii. Somewhat underwhelmed. I played Gears of War for the Xbox 360. I need an Xbox 360 now.

• Pacman Chart

  Thursday November 2, 2006

1. Do not forget your wallet, or else you will never hear the end of it for the remainder of the trip.
2. Kicking your friends’ asses at Tetris DS is extremely satisfying.
3. It’s even more satisfying if done while drunk and taking a dump in the bathroom.
4. You will only win at roulette if you use an extremely dumb method to choose the winning color.
5. I have aged a lot in a span of three months. I went from being carded at every casino to being carded only once.
6. I do not like Jägermeister

Hello neglected friend. I seem to have forgotten that the entire point of a blog is to journal about my life regardless of how boring it really is, in the hopes that other people will read and find it interesting. What a strange concept.

I’ve been playing a lot of Company of Heroes. Just for the record, I am an avid pirater of games simply because so many games I play are crap and not worth the asking price. I bought Company of Heroes based on the demo and have found it to be completely worth $40.

The gameplay requires a lot of micromanagement and is definitely on the strategic end of RTS games, so don’t expect to just amass a group of tanks and send them on their way across the map and hope they destroy the enemy’s base. There’s a lot of tactics that can be applied, and multiplayer is a whole other affair when working with a partner, as I’ve found in my games against the computer AI with Ron.

Tetris wi-fi sucks me in cause it’s so easy to think, “Just a quick game.” And before I know it, I’ve played for an hour. Plus, the DS is the perfect size for smashing against the wall in frustration when I get beat by some crazy Japanese player. It’s more fun when they have an English name, cause then I can scream at ‘em when they beat me.

Sufjan Stevens has kept me very happy these past few weeks with his music. I went on a Sufjan fix after seeing Little Miss Sunshine. He manages to combine the best qualities of music. Horns? Check. Clapping? Check.

Meanwhile, the new Killers’ album is very mediocre. Shame.

I am addicted to Tetris DS. My eyes are blurry from playing so much. I’ve only played the single player game for a few minutes, but multiplayer has got me completely hooked. The new “hold” feature that’s been implemented feels a little cheesy, but after adjusting it adds a new layer of strategy.

I ran 5 miles on Sunday as part of the Nike Run Hit Remix. My time came in at just over an hour. Stop laughing. I’m just happy I finished.

• xkcd damacy. Katamari Damacy is one of the only reasons I’d buy a PS2.

  Friday September 22, 2006

With the announcement of Apple’s “Showtime” event on September 12th, followed with the release of the 24″ iMac and upgraded Mac Mini last week, rumors flying about what sort of announcement could be so big to warrant the iMac being dropped so unceremoniously. Consider this the “what the hell is Apple announcing on Tuesday” thread.

My guess:

• Upgraded iPod nanos with increased size and metal enclosure
• iTunes movie store with movies at (hopefully) $5 a pop
• Some media center thingy for playing your iTunes purchases
• New video iPod

Let’s not forget Nintendo’s Wii presentation on the 14th, which will hopefully announce the price of the Wii and release date. Hooray for gadget week.

• Stop-Motion Human Space Invaders

  Monday July 17, 2006

I joined the Quinn server for some exciting multiplayer Tetris action. Two of the players were still going at it, but I clicked the “play” button anyway in the hopes that I could just jump in, but alas, it was an “everyone starts at the same time” deal.

I fiddled with some of the options as I waited, and then heard the chime announcing the new game was about to begin. Eager as I was, I clicked the “play” button, but as I did the “play” changed to “abort”, and before I even got to drop my first piece, I was out of the game. Who knew it would automatically start the game for me?

I opened the chat for the server and did my whining.

“Man, I accidentally hit abort =(”

Someone responded and asked everyone else to abort their games as well because it wasn’t fair, and to my surprise, they all aborted and restarted the game so I could play! Courtesy and respect are two things I never expected from an online gaming community.

This was a far departure from my usual games of Warcraft 3 with 12-year-olds, who insult other players with names like “gay” and “noob” when they lag the game and bring everything to a halt.

The age difference between people who play Warcraft and Tetris accounts for the perceived immaturity, and yet if all the 12-year-old Warcraft players grew up to become like the Tetris players I played with last night, then there may be hope in a civilized future after all.

valloq: did you trade in for the DS Lite yet?
derosamerak: ya
valloq: how’s it compare?
derosamerak: i want to grease up the DS lite and fuck it

I want a Nintendo Wii. Bad.

When it was first announced last year, I was a bit hesitant with the motion-sensitive controller and wondered just how far they could take it with games and the new gameplay it would offer.

But then at this year’s E3, Nintendo showed off their fancy new games using their fancy new remote and now I’m totally sold. Mario Galaxy looks sweet. FPS games like Metroid and Red Steel look like they’ll be a breeze to control.

At this point I really can’t see who would pass this up, especially with Sony’s lame-o PS3 outrageously priced at $600. Yes, there’s a model available for $500 with a smaller hard drive, but it also has no wireless, no memory stick slot, or HDMI support. Only a fool would get that model.

And let’s not forget their redesigned controller, after everyone made fun of their boomerang controller. It’s as if Sony just gave up, went back to the old design, and then threw in a lame motion sensor to try to match Nintendo, but not quite. Oh Sony, first you try to make everyone use your proprietary crap, and now you’re just copying people. For shame.

On the humorous side (Like making fun of Sony isn’t), has anyone really looked at these great “lifestyle” photos they’re using to advertise the Wii? Metroid Prime 3: Corruption has this rockstarish cool-guy playing it, and then Zelda: Twilight Princess has the kid who’s not quite a geek yet not quite cool either. The best though is the photo for Project H.A.M.M.E.R., which is obviously marketed towards the gamer that has the girlfriend so she can hold you during those tense moments.

• Star Wars Wii Game to be Revealed at E3. If I hear the words “online jedi lightsaber battle,” I am so sold.

  Monday May 8, 2006

Chess

I try to play at least one game of chess a day, in the hopes that a) I’ll get better over time, and b) My brain won’t completely atrophy from lack of use.

And what have I learned so far? I suck at chess.

Ashes and Snow

Went and checked out this exhibition at the Santa Monica pier. The exhibition is in the Nomadic Museum, a temporary structure built out of shipping containers. It looks pretty sweet from the outside, and once you’re inside you would be none the wiser as to what it was made of.

The photos themselves are all amazing, and what’s even more amazing is that they’re all on handmade Japanese paper. The exhibition has some films being shown as well, although they got boring after a while since they consisted mostly of slow-mo shots of humans and animals interacting.

The best part was the gift shop where they had a museum-quality collection of all the photos from the exhibition selling for $8,000. I’m sure a big chunk of that money went to supporting the Flying Elephants Foundation, but I can’t imagine anyone would go to an exhibition expecting to purchase something like that..

Ashes and Snow goes until May 14

Room Redecorating

I’ve reorganized my room. For those who had seen my room before, the big desk in the middle of my room is now gone. You’d be amazed at how big my room seems now.

I’ll write more about this soon enough, and hopefully some photos as well.

• Revolution has a new name! Wii!

  Thursday April 27, 2006

I have little patience for video games these days. It’s not that I don’t enjoy playing them; it’s that I don’t find many that I enjoy playing. In the past four months I’ve gone through eight games, and only one managed to hold my interest long enough to finish it.

“Eight games,” you ask, “don’t you have anything better to do?” The answer to that would obviously be yes, but why do anything productive when I can play games? That question was rhetorical. I know you were all ready to start leaving comments. Bite me. But I digress.

Continue reading “Insert Fun”

• Old Sierra Game Titles Re-released. I used to love these games.

  Wednesday February 22, 2006

I got a chance to try out Karaoke Revolution Vol. 3 this weekend, which features the ability to duet with a friend on songs. Now, I really have no right to be griping about this since I have no singing capabilities at all, and honestly I don’t think I should ever attempt to karaoke again, but I’ve got an issue with this supposed “duet” feature.

First off, there isn’t a single song by Peter Cetera, Lionel Richie, or Peabo Bryson. How the heck can you have a karaoke game with duets without them in it? Instead, it’s just normal songs that are usually sung by one singer, with the verses split up to allow two people to duet. Hoobastank’s “The Reason”, Phil Collins’ “Against All Odds”, Simple Minds’ “Don’t You Forget About Me”, none of these songs are meant as duets.

Where is “Tonight I Celebrate My Love” by Peabo Bryson and Roberta Flack? I can’t play Peter Cetera to Cher on “After All”? And I know I’m really hoping here, but where is “Nothing Better” with Ben Gibbard and Jen Wood?

I know that the game is intended to be played by only one person as well, but a second set of songs for duets would’ve been really nice. Other than that, the duet feature is just lacking in the song choice, which would have made it far more enjoyable.

I’d best be bloggin’ before the natives get restless. I stopped by Best Buy this past weekend to get the Iron Giant SE DVD. Those bastards didn’t even have it up in front with all the new releases. I ended up digging through the “Family” section, and even then it was hidden behind some other lousy family movie. $15 as the msrp isn’t bad though, and after a viewing with Richard, Tommy and Nathan, it’s slowly inching its way towards being an essential.

On my past couple of visits to Best Buy, I’ve been playing Katamari Damacy on the demo booths, and that game is a load of fun if you haven’t tried it yet. You control a little alien prince who pushes around his katamari ball which sticks to everything, and overtime it builds up mass and grows bigger and bigger. It’s one of those games that’s so simple yet addicting that it makes me want to get a PS2 just to play it.

Speaking of games, Half-Life 2 is everything it was hyped up to be. The physics are seriously insane, yet aren’t so complex that they ruin the gameplay. I must have spent a good 30 minutes just stacking up barrels with the gravity gun.

Highlights of the weekend: Jennie eating a rootbeer float in front of Foster’s Freeze, her hand shaking from the cold weather and saying, “This is so good, I’m gonna eat one everyday.” Then Nathan, walking out of a 7-Eleven with a big furry hat holding a Slurpee. Cold desserts in the winter rule.