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Jul. 14th, 2008
Dear WiiWare
Jul. 14th, 2008 06:39 pmWhat I really needed, after coming home from my vacation full of epic fail, was to be able to buy Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People. I could use playing the game as validation that I am, in fact, attractive, and it would also be an awesome game.
Instead, this Monday you release a video game about competitive eating. Yes, folks, it's real, and no, I'm not talking about that mini-game in the Simpsons Game. It's even got endorsements by real-life competitive eating champions.
The existence of this game fills me with a kind of sorrow for humanity I haven't felt since I saw clips of "Bumfights" on the news.
What's more, it taints the memory of Pac-Man.
This makes me miss the weeks where you'd release nothing but a forgettable button-mashing fighter from the mid-90's.
Instead, this Monday you release a video game about competitive eating. Yes, folks, it's real, and no, I'm not talking about that mini-game in the Simpsons Game. It's even got endorsements by real-life competitive eating champions.
The existence of this game fills me with a kind of sorrow for humanity I haven't felt since I saw clips of "Bumfights" on the news.
What's more, it taints the memory of Pac-Man.
This makes me miss the weeks where you'd release nothing but a forgettable button-mashing fighter from the mid-90's.
brighter side
Jul. 14th, 2008 06:45 pmI saw Penn & Teller last night. And I'm trying to forget how the last thing that happened last night was running into an indifferent ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
allie83, her friend who no longer likes me, her other friend whom I've rudely forgotten, and the studly gregarious photographer who always seemed to be around to demonstrate how the women I like might be treating me if I were attractive. Because if that hadn't happened, or if I'd been able to shrug it off, I'd have gone to bed early and happy. So I'm going to make a big long post about how awesome the show was, remembering as many details as possible, untainted by this baggage.
I'll add the minor detail that I had a minor win, apart from the blackjack, which wasn't that much. No, I won time, which is much more valuable than money, especially if it can be used to sleep in a little bit, after a night of tossing and turning and angsting. My brain needs strength.
See, I bought a round-trip shuttle ticket in advance for $10, thinking that was the best way to get to and from the hotel. But though my flight was scheduled for 10:30, they wanted to pick me up at 7:00, and pick up a bunch of people at other hotels. But, later that day, I was riding the Deuce, and the bus driver seemed to have an encyclopedic knowledge of the bus system around the strip. It seems that the Riviera is just far enough off the strip, that it comes up to Paradise Road, which has a bus that goes directly to the airport. And the bus pass I had bought was good for 24 hours, which included this morning. So I could get to the airport faster, and for free, and at the time of my choosing. To make a long story short, I rolled out of bed at 7:20, left my hotel room at 8:00, and was through the security checkpoint by 9:00.
And while every employee of every hotel seemed to know everything about landmarks up to that point, nobody could tell me anything about city buses. I had to use my Blackberry to do a little on-the-fly research, since the complimentary Internet access stopped being complimentary halfway through my trip somehow. A clerk at the AM/PM behind the hotel confirmed my findings, which was a good thing because the bus stops in Vegas aren't well-marked.
allie83, her friend who no longer likes me, her other friend whom I've rudely forgotten, and the studly gregarious photographer who always seemed to be around to demonstrate how the women I like might be treating me if I were attractive. Because if that hadn't happened, or if I'd been able to shrug it off, I'd have gone to bed early and happy. So I'm going to make a big long post about how awesome the show was, remembering as many details as possible, untainted by this baggage.I'll add the minor detail that I had a minor win, apart from the blackjack, which wasn't that much. No, I won time, which is much more valuable than money, especially if it can be used to sleep in a little bit, after a night of tossing and turning and angsting. My brain needs strength.
See, I bought a round-trip shuttle ticket in advance for $10, thinking that was the best way to get to and from the hotel. But though my flight was scheduled for 10:30, they wanted to pick me up at 7:00, and pick up a bunch of people at other hotels. But, later that day, I was riding the Deuce, and the bus driver seemed to have an encyclopedic knowledge of the bus system around the strip. It seems that the Riviera is just far enough off the strip, that it comes up to Paradise Road, which has a bus that goes directly to the airport. And the bus pass I had bought was good for 24 hours, which included this morning. So I could get to the airport faster, and for free, and at the time of my choosing. To make a long story short, I rolled out of bed at 7:20, left my hotel room at 8:00, and was through the security checkpoint by 9:00.
And while every employee of every hotel seemed to know everything about landmarks up to that point, nobody could tell me anything about city buses. I had to use my Blackberry to do a little on-the-fly research, since the complimentary Internet access stopped being complimentary halfway through my trip somehow. A clerk at the AM/PM behind the hotel confirmed my findings, which was a good thing because the bus stops in Vegas aren't well-marked.
P&T review
Jul. 14th, 2008 11:41 pmI saw Penn & Teller live for the second time last night. It was glorious, even though my seats weren't quite as good.
They brought back some old bits I'd seen on TV, like Penn's fire eating, the cigarette sleight-of-hand demonstration, and the cups and balls with clear cups. And they repeated some tricks I'd seen before, but only live: some shadow pruning and goldfish bowl stuff by Teller, and the stealing of an audience member's glasses to open the show. And, of course, there were three irreplaceable acts that were present: the psychic comedian act, the bullet catch (renamed "magic bullets"), and the flag burning and restoration.
The new bits were notable. Especially the nailgun trick that was so new, they had an equipment failure they couldn't deal with and had to abort it. There were a lot of red balls appearing all of a sudden, both featured in new acts, and taking the place of other props in old acts. I thought there would be a theme, but not quite yet. They also sawed a woman into halves, which they then pretended to explain.
My favorite new bit involved creative use of the video monitor, much like my favorite bit last year. I suppose it's because these videos would be difficlut, or impossible, to do on television. They pulled an audience member out, and had him operate a handheld camera, so that Penn could do some close-up magic. But before the camera was turned on, Teller appeared on the monitor holding a sign telling the rest of the audience that we're doing a different trick. There was some important information I missed because I was distracted by a ringing cell phone that just kept going. So I kept watching the video, even though I was supposed to be watching the real stage, where we could see that Teller was assisting the trick from behind the scenery. And like most P&T tricks, the trickery escalated to points I'd rather not spoil for anyone who's going to see the show live, which I hope is at least one of you.
This time, both Penn and Teller were doing meet and greets after the show. They were on opposite walls, so as to keep the crowd dilute. I got another Penn photo, but both of them signed my copy of "How to Play in Traffic", and neither of them could tell me where to get tiny circles of red foam for my state ID for one of the tricks in the book. I perhaps should have gotten a Teller photo too, because a lifetime of silent performances has given Teller a wide variety of face poses. But, after my Penn photo, I said into thin air, "Dr. Penn, how do you type with boxing gloves on your hands," which was what I asked when I called into his radio show two years ago. And he said he remembered that. I said he had me on the phone for like 20 minutes, which was an exaggeration, but if you'll listen, you'll find I changed the subject twice before a commercial break forced the call to end. Who knows, I might have been able to chew Penn's ear off all night, but there were other fans who needed his attention. The crowd was so much thicker than last year.
Since I'm a sucker for swag, I got a T-shirt, and a CD of music by Mike Jones, the jazz pianist who opens for the show, and implores people to sign the envelope used for the psychic comedian trick. And, thoughmotis is the only one who would ask, no, I didn't request "Monkey Tuesday" while Jones was playing.
I'm a pretty big fan, but the guy next to me claimed that Bullshit was the best show on television. I said that it was good, but there had to be one better. I proposed Firefly, but he rejected that, so I rejected a few of my other favorites, like Futurama. So I next proposed Carl Sagan's Cosmos, to which he said he hadn't seen it, and would have to take my word for it. Victory came a little too easy, for I could have defended that series against Bullshit easily.
They brought back some old bits I'd seen on TV, like Penn's fire eating, the cigarette sleight-of-hand demonstration, and the cups and balls with clear cups. And they repeated some tricks I'd seen before, but only live: some shadow pruning and goldfish bowl stuff by Teller, and the stealing of an audience member's glasses to open the show. And, of course, there were three irreplaceable acts that were present: the psychic comedian act, the bullet catch (renamed "magic bullets"), and the flag burning and restoration.
The new bits were notable. Especially the nailgun trick that was so new, they had an equipment failure they couldn't deal with and had to abort it. There were a lot of red balls appearing all of a sudden, both featured in new acts, and taking the place of other props in old acts. I thought there would be a theme, but not quite yet. They also sawed a woman into halves, which they then pretended to explain.
My favorite new bit involved creative use of the video monitor, much like my favorite bit last year. I suppose it's because these videos would be difficlut, or impossible, to do on television. They pulled an audience member out, and had him operate a handheld camera, so that Penn could do some close-up magic. But before the camera was turned on, Teller appeared on the monitor holding a sign telling the rest of the audience that we're doing a different trick. There was some important information I missed because I was distracted by a ringing cell phone that just kept going. So I kept watching the video, even though I was supposed to be watching the real stage, where we could see that Teller was assisting the trick from behind the scenery. And like most P&T tricks, the trickery escalated to points I'd rather not spoil for anyone who's going to see the show live, which I hope is at least one of you.
This time, both Penn and Teller were doing meet and greets after the show. They were on opposite walls, so as to keep the crowd dilute. I got another Penn photo, but both of them signed my copy of "How to Play in Traffic", and neither of them could tell me where to get tiny circles of red foam for my state ID for one of the tricks in the book. I perhaps should have gotten a Teller photo too, because a lifetime of silent performances has given Teller a wide variety of face poses. But, after my Penn photo, I said into thin air, "Dr. Penn, how do you type with boxing gloves on your hands," which was what I asked when I called into his radio show two years ago. And he said he remembered that. I said he had me on the phone for like 20 minutes, which was an exaggeration, but if you'll listen, you'll find I changed the subject twice before a commercial break forced the call to end. Who knows, I might have been able to chew Penn's ear off all night, but there were other fans who needed his attention. The crowd was so much thicker than last year.
Since I'm a sucker for swag, I got a T-shirt, and a CD of music by Mike Jones, the jazz pianist who opens for the show, and implores people to sign the envelope used for the psychic comedian trick. And, though
motis is the only one who would ask, no, I didn't request "Monkey Tuesday" while Jones was playing.I'm a pretty big fan, but the guy next to me claimed that Bullshit was the best show on television. I said that it was good, but there had to be one better. I proposed Firefly, but he rejected that, so I rejected a few of my other favorites, like Futurama. So I next proposed Carl Sagan's Cosmos, to which he said he hadn't seen it, and would have to take my word for it. Victory came a little too easy, for I could have defended that series against Bullshit easily.