Force Unleashed...almost

I downloaded the the Force Unleashed Demo from Xbox Live last night and just...wow. It was everything that I had psyched it up in my head to be and more. Force pushing people across the room and/or hurling TIE fighters at them, yes, you read that right throwing TIE fighters, has got to be one of the most satisfying things I've ever done in a video game. It's one of those situations where you can't help but grin a little after wiping out an entire hanger of baddies in one giant explosion. However, I think the best thing about the game is that they didn't make Force lightning too OP. It's not Jedi Academy where you just run around holding down the Force lightning button until everything is dead. That had its merits, but I think the greater focus on lightsaber combat, force push/throw, and a little bit of a fighting game style combo system, are gonna make the game far more interesting to play for a longer time. And you can't tell from the demo, but I hear the story is shaping up to be fairly good as well. September 16th can't come soon enough...

Eureka Seven

So, it's been awhile since I watched Eureka Seven, so please forgive any details I may be missing. The premise of the show is that a group of hippies with state-of-the-art mecha that can surf through the air are trying to stop the government from doing some heinous act that I can't remember. The way this show draws you in is with the surfing mecha and then makes you stick around for the love story that starts to unfold. And while it sounds stupid in text, the sky-surfing mecha thing goes with the overall mood and theme of the show very well. And when I say that it makes you stick around for the love story, I don't mean that in a bad way. Combat takes a back seat for the majority of the show anyway, so if that's all you're looking for, this probably isn't for you. However, the love story isn't the only thing going on and for a large part of the series, it's fairly subtle and the plot focuses on stopping the evil government. When I look back on the series though, that's what I remember it as, a love story amidst all the other ridiculousness going on, so it does take the spotlight in the end. I'd highly recommend it for anyone looking for something a little lighthearted.

War and Peace

In general, I'm not very interested in politics. However, the recent conflict in Georgia has gotten me slightly pissed off. For anyone reading who may have fallen for the Western spin on this, let me tell you the real story. The Georgian government tried to invade a secessionist region of its own country in an effort to re-take it by force. The Russians, who had peacekeepers in the secessionist region, then bombed the shit out of Georgia in order to stop the attacks. Overkill? Yes. Would we have done the exact same thing? Unfortunately, I think so. For better or worse, we may be the international police force, but we have no obligation to protect some stupid little country half way across the world stupid enough to piss off the giant red bear next door, especially while we're already fighting 2 other shitty wars in the Middle East. Frankly, we're as ill-equipped to piss off Russia right now as Georgia was.

And all the McCain supporters out there who are touting how much of a badass he is for stepping up to the plate and throwing his support behind Georgia need to realize several things. Firstly, McCain is currently what, a Senator? He has no power to help the people in Georgia, so anything he says about how the American people support them is a line of BS with nothing to back it. We won't even talk about the facts that not all Americans support them or that we couldn't send more troops there if we wanted to. The second thing that McCain supporters throw around is that Obama is on vacation and making no statement about the conflict. I like to think that's because he's smart enough to realize all of the above and is content with the hole that McCain is digging for himself. Call it convenient, but having no comment about the situation is better than the nonsense McCain is throwing around right now.

How time flies...

Well, it's been a long time since my last post and I can't exactly say I've been too busy. I guess I was just occupied doing other things and completely forget about this little side project. However, I'm back and alot has changed since my last post. The first thing you'll notice is that I scrapped my site and have decided to just have the blog. There are two reasons for this. Firstly, I am no longer affiliated with Miami University (nor will I likely be in the near future). So, the free web hosting that I had there will expire as soon as the next batch of account terminations goes through and I don't really feel like paying for web hosting at this time. Secondly, I can get almost all the same functionality here with less effort, minus the music player, so why not save myself the trouble.

The site revamp aside, alot has happened since my last update. I've had a 3 month job at the Miami University IT Support Desk. I then moved out of Oxford, OH back to Shorewood, IL to live with my parents for 2 months. Currently, I have a job supporting a new VoIP system for Chicago Public Schools and am looking forward to moving into my apartment in Chicago next month.

One thing that was great about these last few months of unemployment (besides, ya know, not working) was the endless hours of the day available for quality anime watching. So, while I may have abandoned the blog for the last several months, I have a great backlog of anime to share vicariously with any visitors. ^_^

Appleseed: Ex Machina

I just wanted to inform anyone that actually checks this that I am indeed still alive. I also downloaded Appleseed: Ex Machina, the sequel to the 2004 movie, and stayed up way too late last night watching it, but it was worth my sleep depravity today. I also grabbed Eureka Seven while I was bored out of my mind last weekend and will probably start that sometime this weekend. I'll try to get some music up from the new Appleseed movie ASAP, but Google failed me and I'll have to try a bit harder.

Console War

So, in response to the problems that Xbox Live has been having over the last few weeks some idiots in Texas are trying to sue Microsoft for five million dollars...good luck with that.

In addition to the Xbox Live problems that occured over the holidays, Microsoft has had many other problems with it's hardware in the past and Destructoid has an interesting article about a possible Xbox Exodus if Sony ever gets its shit together.

Lastly, New Line Cinema has decided to drop the HD-DVD format and support Blu-ray exclusively. Since this follows Warner Bros.'s recent decision to do the same, it seems that HD-DVD is on it's way to becoming the next Betamax.

"Also, we are assholes. Professionally." ~Tycho, Penny Arcade

HearJapan

Apparently, a new English-language web site is launching that sells Japanese music. This has the potential to be very cool. Also, I started playing World of Warcraft...again. This can only end badly...

"The enforced revelry period has finally come to a close. Thank Christ." ~Tycho, Penny Arcade