# Wednesday, November 24, 2004

Circuit Overload

"The Bible also indicates that women are second-class citizens who were put on Earth to serve men, which is central to hip-hop thinking."

[ Weekly World News ]

I guess when you think about it, the Weekly World News is just old-school Onion...

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# Tuesday, November 23, 2004

Now it all makes sense

The Nintendo DS with it's unique controls allows you to create the highest forms of entertainment:

Sprung puts you in control of the conversation. Choose your line and get ready to react when your opponent responds.

  • Work all the angles
  • Flaunt your assets
  • Play it cool

[ Ubisoft - Sprung™ ]

Oh, and cheesey dating-like sims too (and three)...

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DSerendipity

Perhaps this is just media hype or Nintendo spin:

In the entertainment Mecca of the world, people waited in line for up to 15 hours on Nov. 20 to be the first to touch America's newest, hottest celebrity: The Nintendo DS. The paparazzi were out in full force to catch a glimpse of the dual-screen device and its devoted followers.

[ News : Article ]

Or perhaps I stumbled in at the right time. I wandered into the Best Buy right when they opened, sauntered up to a table covered in DS merchandise, and picked up one. I think it was meant to be, eh? I'm not so impressed with the one game I picked up, however, the controls are a bit sketchy, but I can certainly see the potential that the DS has. If they get some of the better N64 titles and rework them to be more DS-friendly, I think we'll have plenty of great games for years to come. (Too bad Conker won't likely be one of them...). Some titles I'd like to see snazzed up and ported include:

  • That truck crashing game that N8 has
  • Any Rare FPS
  • Jet Force Gemini (but what was promised, not what Rare delivered)
  • Any other Rare game
  • Seriously did anyone else makes games for the N64?

Oh, and if LA is the “entertainment Mecca” then was is Mecca?

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Metroid Goodness

Sure it's marketing hype, but so far I am inclined to agree:

Metroid Prime 2 Echoes is one of those rare games that exceeds its predecessor in quality. The game expertly weaves themes of light and darkness in every element, from plot, to characters, weapons, power-ups, even the music. The action is engaging and intense (you'll love to hate the Ing Horde), the levels brilliantly designed, and the puzzles intelligent but approachable. Metroid Prime 2 Echoes is a fantastic installment in one of the Nintendo GameCube's most exciting franchises.

[ Metroid Prime 2 Echoes ]

I haven't gotten so far, but already it feels better than the original. The engine is a bit more polished, the world seems more complex and thought out, and everything is a bit darker and more sinister. Once again, if you don't have a game cube, you are missing out big time.

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# Friday, November 19, 2004

What is this world coming to?

These 100% cotton thong style panties for women feature SpongeBob in 7 different moods on 7 fun thongs, one for each day of the week. Each one has a day of the week on it and has SpongeBob in a different funny mood. These fun panties are machine washable and easy to care for. Imported.

[ WebUndies.com SpongeBob 7 Days of the week thong set ]

Imported from where? What country is everyone walking around in these? Who has the same moods each day? Or has a different mood each day? Has SpongeBob seen these? Does he approve? So many questions, so little time...

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# Thursday, November 18, 2004

Looks like I have to get an XBox too

They kidnapped his father. They destroyed his village. Now, he's the world's only hope against an evil sorcerer - and not even time can stand in his way. Meet Tork - cave kid, shape shifter, and time-traveling bone buster. With a fiery heart and flinty determination, Tork vows to steamroll through time and put history itself back on track.

[ Ubisoft - Tork™: Prehistoric Punk™ ]

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# Sunday, November 14, 2004

Strange Game makes it to US Shores

Usually the Japanese don't send us the odd ones. Sometimes, however, they figure it will sell enough to translate some text and the packaging, when this happens we end up with a weird, but addictive, trip like Katamari Damacy. Sure we've all been through it, our father the King of the Cosmos, out on a trippy weekend bender, destroys all starts in the sky. Then, because he's too irresponsible to fix the problem himself, strongly suggests that I, his son, the prince, fix it. To add insult to injury his solution is to have me roll up everything I can into a ball, and when big enough he'll make a star out of it. Why is that injurious? He send me to Earth to do it. Not only does each level have trippy music, but when my ball o' junk is big enough he uses a trippy rainbow bridge to bring me back home.

In an interesting side note, you can tell that much of the Internet is committed to reviewing video games by googling Katamari, which doesn't seem to mean anything outside of this game. At the time of publishing this article roughly 215,000 pages are “hit” by that search, *all seemingly mentioning this game.

* All meaning 99%, there were a few others that seemed unrelated, but quickly forgotten in the onslaught of Katamari Damacy reviews.

Update: Roughly it means “Clump of Souls

Update: The game retails for $19.95, the CD (an import) costs $29.95 most places.

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# Friday, November 12, 2004

Eid ul Fitr Announcement

Apparently ISNA won't wait to see if the impossible might happen:

All astronomical data indicates that it will be impossible for the crescent to be sighted anywhere in the world on the evening of Friday, November 12. Therefore, Eid-al-Fitr in North America will be on Sunday, November 14, 2004, insha'Allah.

[ ISNA :: News and Press Releases ]

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AOL Tells Employees, Find a new Job

Because starting Jan. 17th, we're running ourselves out of business:

America Online, which earlier this year stopped signing up new broadband customers, is telling existing broadband subscribers in nine Southern states that they must find a new broadband carrier by Jan. 17.

[ Yahoo! News - AOL Tells Customers to Find New Carrier ]

Or am I missing something here, like people craving slow, hard to deal with, Internet connections that they pay too much for?

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# Tuesday, November 09, 2004

Who lives in a pineapple?

And is coming to the big screen? I can't tell you how excited I am, and I see that Avril agrees.

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Apparently they will remake anything

Plot Outline: A remake of the classic 80s sex comedy, where a group of high schoolers seek revenge on a nightclub owner and his sheriff brother.

[ Porky's (2005) ]

And they'll make us sit through every disgusting frame... twice.

Though, with Savage Steve writing, perhaps it'll be good. Mikah mentioned Better Off Dead, and now I'm craving a Savage Steve Holland movie night. Though, on second thought it will still be Porky's, and therefore pretty base. Of course, in that case, Nar will like it.

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# Monday, November 08, 2004

Move '04 is over!

8 days ago I didn't even know I was moving. I just wanted to get my name on the list for available 2 bedroom apartments in my building in preparation of my wife's arrival (date still undetermined). Much to my surprise there was a 2 bedroom on the 6th floor available immediately. This satisfied my “preferably higher up” rule as well as had the nicer (IMHO) northern view toward the city. The only question was would the building for some bizarre reason require 30 days notice to transfer between 2 of their apartments?

Monday came and the answer with it, no 30 days notice required. Now the question was is it possible to prepare for a move in 5 nights during Ramadan? Apparently the answer is just barely and it won't be fun. Everything is now safely in the new digs, but I don't believe I even want to think about unpacking.

Will I ever plan a move in such short time again? And during Ramadan? Not if I can help it. Lesson learned.

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# Thursday, October 28, 2004

I'm feeling it

If only for the fact that the map is always there, and yet doesn't obscure any part of the game, I think I will like the DS a lot.

Super Mario 64 DS is much more than just a port of the Nintendo 64 version of the game. New worlds, new characters, new moves and the addition of action-packed minigames make this title bigger and better than ever before!

[ Games : Super Mario 64 DS ]

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