Patrick R

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Posts posted by Patrick R

  1. Posted

    Since we're talking First Person Shooters: Doom. JP LeBreton (former guest and all around cool dude) is a big Doom fan and his enthusiasm has inspired me to pick it up Doom II myself as I missed out on it (and most all of PC gaming) when it came out. In short: Doom II is really great. Granted, I'm playing through zDoom, which has lots of customization options and mouse support, so I don't think I'm getting the most authentic experience, but I'm having lots of fun. Non-linear levels that I can beat really fast if I try. The sweet super-shotgun. And the mods. Oh the mods.

     

    Anyhow, Doom II. You should pick it up if you haven't tried it.

    Can you maybe direct me somewhere that explains how to use mods in zDoom? I could never figure that stuff out.

  3. Posted

    Time will only tell how my own experiences with it will pan out, but I'm having fun so far.

     

    But if I am to extrapolate the connection between Neptune's Pride and dating, then this will all end in tears. Just based on our current game.

  4. Posted

    I am in an open relationship, so I have a primary partner who I've been with for 5 years, but we also both go on dates and see other people. The other parties all know I have a serious partner and am not interested in a serious relationship with anyone else, so it's mostly just going on dates/seeing each other/other stuff. 

     

    But there is this angle of Neptune's Bounty where you are trying to test out alliances, trying to feel out if other parties are interested, trying to figure out where that turn is. Dating is not and should not be about subterfuge or deceit, but in the early parts of getting to know someone (particularly on dating sites like OkCupid), there's a certain level of play-acting, of trying to present yourself a certain way. You are feeling a person out, seeing if they are someone you want to go on a date with, and at the same time, trying to present yourself as the kind of person they would like to date. Again, not lying or trickery, just like "I notice this person says they hate rap on their profile, I will probably play down my love of rap and play up my love of this other thing they do like." Etc. You're ostensibly just having a conversation with someone about the X-Files, but you're also trying to present yourself as an attractive mate. "This is what I have to offer." 

     

    I mean, I know I'm not the first person to compare diplomacy and romance, but starting the OkCupid thing and the Neptune's Pride thing in the same week linked them inextricably in my head. Also Zeus asked for someone to just post and that was what was on my mind.

  8. Posted

    Welp, looks like after a week of cooking pizzas I don't have a job again. What is a guy with no skills, no education, and no car to do? Start hoping that Wendy's is hiring.

  10. Posted

    Haven't seen the remake, but I imagine it's just as much an exploitation film as the original. So yeah, you are correct, there isn't much point other than "Look at these sick deaths!" I'm not super interested in modern exploitation films because the internet has kind of rendered their original purpose moot. But in 1980 when the original Maniac came out, there was a scarcity to sick deaths in cinema and it was actually risky because those kinds of films were still seen as the scourge of society by many. The purpose of exploitation was simply "here's something you can't see anywhere else!" whether it was sex or graphic violence or black people kicking whitey's ass or kung-fu or just a shit-ton of worms. The films can be fascinating because of the history of it, or because of the unique talent they often attracted, but they're rarely about anything substantial beyond serving the salacious interests of the audience.

    The original Maniac kind of sort of tries to be about getting in the head of a serial killer, but it's clear it's priorities are visceral and not psychological. The remake sort of sounded like an interesting experiment due to it's extensive first-person camera work, but that's also the sort of thing that makes the already gross subject matter even more tasteless. I remember during Siskel and Ebert's crusade against slasher movies they claimed (mostly incorrectly, IMO) that the films would use first-person shots from the killer's perspective so the audience would identify with them. It was actually a holdover from the giallo films most early slasher movies ripped off, mostly used to hide the identity of the killer. But I do wonder if, in 2013, the kind of extensive use of first-person camerawork the remake supposedly had isn't just there for shock and to make the film more queasy and uncomfortable. Unless that sort of technique is tied to some kind of larger meaning, I don't really find much value in it.

  12. Posted

    Never watched CKs stuff before, I think that is just a fundamental truth of parenting.

    Edit: I feel like a fucking jackass now for posting something that's already been said by someone so prominent in modern culture and not being aware if it. My apologies. Damn its near impossible to have an original thought these days. Do you ever wish you could rewind time?

    It's the fundamental truth of it that makes it funny, but it's the phrase "Because nothing wouldn't be, you can't have fucking nothing isn't!" that makes it a masterpiece.

  15. Posted

    Oops, now all I can listen to is Southern rap of the late 90's/early 00's. Thanks Ernst!

    Anyone else a fan of Mystikal? I'm kind of convinced that this the best musical response to 9/11 that ever happened (sorry Bruce!).

     

     

    "I know that they made you feel strange huh

    You was right in the middle complainin' and forgot what you was cryin'bout
    It could be you time and it might be
    You can't do nothing about it, its God will thats just how life be
    One day it hit 'cha then its gone
    And I'm serious and you ain't never even gonna feel it until it hit home
    That's when the pain run sharper and deeper
    You ain't eat that's when the days feel slow and long
    I know you miss 'em so it's time to uplift 'em
    Try to pick the pieces up and find a way to drive on"

     

    There's also the meta-layer of Mystikal's history with New Orleans bounce music, but that is some deep rap nerd shit.

  17. Posted

    Jesus. Do they have simulation games about sailing a ship across the sea in the 18th century? Can that please be a thing. 

    Dear triple A developers, there's a lot of juice left in the Sid Meier's Pirates! franchise. You should throw millions and millions of dollars at it. Love me.

  22. Posted

    "Get you gone, you dwarf;
    You minimus, of hindering knot-grass made;
    You bead, you acorn."

     

    Lysander is pretty sweet.


    I played Puck once, but I was 11 and it was a pretty horrible production all around. All the fairies came scampering out to

    . It was the most 90's thing I can possibly imagine. But I still have a fair amount of the closing monologue memorized.

  24. Posted

    If you liked Outkast's early stuff, you owe it to yourself to check out more stuff by Organized Noize and The Dungeon Family. Goodie Mob's early records are almost as good as Outkast's (and you get to hear Cee-Lo before he sold his soul for pop hits!), to say nothing of

    and Witchdoctor's album A S.W.A.T. Healin' Ritual. They were on fire the second half of the 90's, and still manage to produce some amazing stuff from time to time. In more recent years, Killer Mike has been the biggest attraction. Everyone went nuts over R.A.P. Music but the I Pledge Allegiance To The Grind series and his debut Monster were really amazing too. Killer Mike, man. If you like Outkast you already know. And if you don't know, now you know.

     

    Personally, Stankonia feels a little shallow compared to Aquemini, and I prefer the more straight-ahead (but still certainly funk and psych inspired) early albums to Stankonia's intense wackiness. I think Big Boi and Andre were so great together because they forced each other out of their comfort zones. 3000 couldn't go off the deep end on songs that were really about something and Big Boi couldn't rest on his gangster laurels when stacked up against a lyricist as inventive as 3000. Stankonia honestly already feels like two solo albums to me, because Big Boi feels kind of out of place on some of those crazier tracks and 3000 is just in his own world. Production-wise it's often fascinating, but those guys were so good at RAPPING, and rapping with each other, that the more divided approach kind of bums me out. Not a bad album by any stretch, but it's not one I find myself returning to.

    And this is the best Outkast song of all time. Accept no substitutes. 

     

     

    "Now who else wanna fuck with Hollywood Court?"

  25. Posted

    The fact that you cannot go into a Subway and ask for a turkey sandwich without being asked in return how a turkey sandwich is made makes me madder than it should be. Especially considering how rarely I eat there. But I constantly think about people whose sole job is literally making submarine sandwiches and yet they have to ask how to do it every step of the way to a guy who has never made a submarine sandwich for himself in his home. And because they ask your ingredients step by step, ingredient modulation is a comedy of errors. It is really weird and dumb to me and also apparently the reason Subway's stock has gone up so much in the past 10 years or so. 

     

    I cook pizzas for a living. We are requested either a specific specialty pizza on the menu, or a list of ingredients that should go on that pizza. We then use our human minds to reason, figure out how to best modulate and arrange said ingredients for maximum visual and taste appeal. The customer then receives a food item that has been both made to their specifications and made by someone who knows how to make it. I wash my hands and repeat.