miffy495

Just to clarify, I'm not saying that the Nazis should have been allowed to march on city hall. That is fucking appalling in itself, and I greatly disagree with it. What brought me down was that the counter-protest fucking firebombed public transit. So no, the Nazis shouldn't have been there in the first place, but don't set a goddamn train on fire because you're frustrated. That does nobody any good. OssK, you had every right to retaliate against your attackers, and in doing so you discouraged further violence on their part. Deterrents can be useful, and on occasion necessary. In your case, from what you have said, it does seem to have been a necessity. I am still however fully against violence in a protest situation. It makes your side seem crazy, makes the thing or people you are protesting into martyrs, and is generally counter-productive. Smashing up a shop or burning a train does nothing to persuade people that Nazis are of the wrong frame of mind. Also, on a happier note (and this is the life thread) I just got formally hired to that projectionist job! Woo!

While undoubtedly a positive on the whole, that sort of thing can definitely be a double-edged sword. Not sure I'd count the destruction of the store as a "win" for example. A couple of months ago there was a rally for the "Aryan Guard" in Calgary that had a big counter-protest. I was at work that day, but the march went right past my work. That night I had a lot of difficulty getting home because one of the counter-protesters had firebombed the train line. As a result, the Nazis actually seemed like the more reasonable people that day, which is not something you'd ever want to have to say.

Richard Scarry. He wrote a ton of stuff.

That's pretty much the "few problems" that I meant. Monkey Kombat was insult sword fighting without the funny, and the Toothrot bit was just weird. Aside from those though, I liked it a lot.

But, as I mentioned, the DVD is also a very welcome thing for me. Would there be a way to get that if I bought individually?

A thought just occurred to me. Everyone who's really excited about a new "proper" MI game seems to be hating on 4. I never really understood why all the hate. Personally, I thought it was weaker than the others, but still a very fun game with a pretty good story. There were a few problems, sure, but I liked it. Hell, I've replayed it a good 4 or 5 times over the years. That said, I accept that there's a lot of hate for it. Some of it even from within the ranks here. So I'll put this question to those of you with the hate. How shall I put this? 1. Mike Stemmle was the lead on Escape From Monkey Island. 2. Mike Stemmle now works at Telltale Games. 3. According to Telltale's website, Mike Stemmle is a writer/designer on Tales of Monkey Island. This leads me to ask: Why do you expect this one to be so much better than Escape? I'm not particularly fussed by this, (as I said, I like MI4) but those of you who hated it, why should this one be so different with the lead from that game playing a major part in the new episodes? EDIT: Hmmm... I see Dave Grossman is the lead. Never mind...

Got Fright of the Bumblebees free as part of my Monkey Island pre-order and I just played it tonight. Have to say, it was pretty excellent. I was chuckling the whole time. Most of the time I didn't have any issues with it, although the controls took some getting used to. At times I started feeling as if the game was a touch on the easy side, but a good chunk of that may have been because I've been playing adventure games since before my vocabulary should have been able to support them. I found myself solving a few puzzles by accident, because using one thing with something else just seemed like the adventure game thing to do and the puzzle that it solved would then present itself a few minutes later. The only thing I got stuck on was Other than that one issue, I really enjoyed the episode. Having been a big Wallace and Gromit fan since my friend lent me his VHS tapes of the original shorts when I was 8 years old, I couldn't be happier with how it turned out. The only reason I waited until I had a coupon was my nervousness about how faithful the game would be to the source material. Thankfully, my fears were unfounded. Wallace's voice got me a little bit at first, but within about 10 minutes I'd grown used to it. All told, the voice actor that Telltale picked did the job very admirably. So now I want to order the other three. Preferably with the DVD pack, as I've really appreciated that with the Sam and Max games. Unfortunately, near as I can tell there's no way to take the fact that I already own one of the games into account on the site. I really would like to purchase the whole thing, but having to pay the full price for the pack would kind of kill the point of getting one episode "free," wouldn't it? In the past, I've always just ordered whole seasons of Telltale games at a time, (and hell, I've ordered all of them...) so this is a new issue to me. Anyone been through this/able to offer advice? Is there a way to get the pack without having to re-purchase Fright of the Bumblebees?

I'm with you, Horticulture Tycoon. I used to play the guitar primarily, and I'm still pretty good with it when I need to be, but I just find the drums so much more fun. For me, the quality of a Rock Band game will come down to how fun the drums are to play, so I'm waiting for word on that one.

spay?

"Being a big guy has its advantages. AND its disadvantages..." What's the matter, fella? Can't reach your ass?

The hair isn't a problem so much as the distance between it and his eyes. That is, his forehead is ungodly huge, and I think that's part of what makes his eyes look so vacant.

He just has a very similar voice to many of the burnt-out hipsters I hate dealing with at work, I think. Doesn't mean he's not a very smart man, as his cast definitely shows, but his voice itself still bothers me. Speaks to the quality of the show that I'll still listen to it for over an hour at a time.

I paid 99 cents and regret nothing.

Cool, despite the fact that Ashley's voice irritates me for reasons I can't pin down, I really like ALWW. I'll give it a read. Also, I second the poutine sentiment. For whatever reason, I haven't had any since moving to Calgary in 2000. I know so many people who've never had it. My friend's girlfriend is from Ottawa and we'll often wax nostalgic about great Eastern Canadian traditions such as these that have not made it this far west.

From what I've gathered, MS is saying that Live will go down at midnight and could remain down for the entire 24 hour period depending on how things go. As such, I made plans to go to the zoo.

Took it online tonight. Did not win a single round. Goddamn, there's some really stiff competition out there. Was hoping they'd at least try to match me with comparably skilled players...

Well, times when I can control it crop up infrequently, but the issue that made me say "when I can control it" crops up frequently. This is what I meant. I went to EB after posting that while running errands elsewhere. They don't have fight pads, but they had the whole stick deal. Didn't feel up to dropping $100 on it, but at least I know there are other viable methods out there. EDIT: After another hour or so with the game, I think I'm starting to get a feel for Guile. Never one of my favorite original World Warriors, but I like the way he plays in this one. Still open for a game if any thumbs still play this one online. The quick game matchmaking is, in a word, abysmal.

Horrendously late to the party, but I've finally started playing this. I'm very torn as to how to feel about it. On the one hand, the game, when I can control it, is awesome. On the other hand, that "when I can control it" crops up waaaay too frequently. I got trounced on Easy with a character I know just because I can only pull off special moves 1/4 of the times I try them. Goddammit. How much is a fight pad?

The trailer also has a big Xbox 360 logo at the end. Y'know, just in case you'd rather.

I went in expecting shit, came out happy that this was only true of the last 10 minutes or so. Up was incredible. Everyone go see it. NOW. It was a little tough at the beginning though, when the old guy's motive for the trip is being explained. He's doing it in memory of his dead wife, and it shows their life together and her death in a hospital room. As the girl's grandmother had died in a room just like that one less than a month ago with her present, it was a very difficult moment for her to watch. We had to leave for a bit. After we came back though, the rest of the movie was unbelievably excellent, and we still came out with big grins on both our faces. Considering that it was not only good, but good enough to pick us up after that moment, I can do nothing but recommend it.

Haven't heard Wavves before, but I'll order that album into the store and give it a go. Thee Oh Sees are awesome, agreed. Privileges of working at a music store is that you can order whatever the hell you want in and can demo it in the back room all you want. Lots of new bands have emerged for me since starting there a little over a year ago.

I pulled off a couple of spectacular stunts during that ice cream race. I really wish someone had been there to see them. Also, not once but twice did I kill Nevsky through the windshield of his car while driving. I've never pulled this off before, so either I was really lucky, or Nevsky was trying to catch my bullets with his head.

That's really sweet. A good choice of song for it too. I'm going to have to check out some of the other videos that the project has come up with. And I'm a wage slave for a music store, so NSFW means nothing to me. When not listening to hip hop lately, my time has been occupied by Times New Viking's first album Dig Yourself. I'd only recommend it if you're down with EXTREMELY low-fi indie/punk, but it's a great album if you like that stuff. Highly recommended for those who like the Thermals, the Deadly Snakes, or the early work from Pavement (thinking specifically of Slanted & Enchanted here). Also, I was recently exposed to the work of Wayne Shorter, which given his musical pedigree I'm amazed I hadn't heard of before. Played tenor sax for Miles Davis, was a driving force behind a lot of Art Blakey's late 50's stuff, and his drummer was Elvin Jones, who I absolutely adore from his work with Coltrane. Picked up Juju and Night Dreamer, his first two solo albums, and they're fantastic. Shout out to all the jazz fans out there in Thumb-land.

It really is. I've planned on buying Prototype for a while, as it really does look awesome, but I also have a personal ban on buying Activision games. Hell, I've had it since I saw what they did to Guitar Hero and decided I didn't want to support that. If I hadn't received Call of Duty 5 as a gift, I wouldn't have played any of their games for over a year. Prototype looks good enough that I may need to go grab it, and I do feel that same patriotic impulse you have, Shakesbeard, plus Hulk was incredible. I'm considering buying it used though, just so Activision doesn't get my money. Unfortunately, I also hate buying used games because no one who actually worked on it gets anything. Is there any way I can buy the game from Radical without anything going to Activision? Unlikely.

Yeah, CBC tried to turn that one into a TV show. Didn't work out so well. Oh, Canadian television. Why are there so many failures and so few Newsrooms?