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Two Steps Forward, One Leep Back  I finished up GTA IV this weekend. I took both paths, but only beat one as the last battle seemed relatively similar (and equally frustrating). I could've stuck around to nab more achievements, but I shall not do that as MGS4 has been staring at me for weeks. GTA IV ended up being a 9+ experience for me. It had some glaring problems -- high-maintenance friends, long missions with no checkpoints, too-easy gunplay -- but it was an awesome trip. The city is as perfect as you could ask for in a sandbox game, and the story by and large was top-tier. I wasn't sure if I could get into being a "regular" guy in an open-world game after Crackdown's excellence, but the characters and variety pulled me in. This is only the second Grand Theft Auto I've played to completion; Vice City was the first, though that was for a guide in Game Informer. I've already played several hours of Metal Gear Solid 4. I'm enjoying it a lot thus far. Amazingly, I wasn't getting my ass handed to me in the beginning -- something I thought was a rite of passage in this series. It's unique in that you can really choose to be invisible or a superhero. I was slinking around at the beginning, but then decided to take down some of the badder NPCs. That totally affected the flow of the battlefield, which I enjoyed. Unfortunately, the game makes it tough to tell which generic soldiers like you, so I found myself in shit a lot -- I actually had to read the instruction book (aside: remember when instruction books had more than 8 pages and lots of info? MGS4's still does, thankfully). Only died once thus far, though, and already had some memorable moments. Today is my first Friday working from home in eons -- since they were usually taken up with visits to our sound company for audio feedback of cutscenes. I needed an oil change, so I brought my car in around 9:30. I brought my DS (with FF VI Advance) and a Discworld book (Lords & Ladies, which I've of course already read), as I planned to be there a while. But instead of whiling away the hours in the little waiting-room area, I went to the park across the street. It's a beautiful day: warm, but with a fine breeze and not a cloud in the sky. After climbing my first tree in years (primarily to fruitlessly find a nice nook to read in), I settled under a tree rather than in one, and read a good 65 pages. Meanwhile, little kids played on the playground equipment or splashed in the multitude of fountains designed for just such a purpose. I didn't even find them annoying -- and, incidentally, there were little kids in my dreams last night who were related to me somehow. It was a nice way to spend a few hours. Now I'm home and fittin' to do some work. And eat some leftover pizza. It seems everyone is anti-M. Night Shyamalan these days. Well, everyone except Kate and I. As such, we went to see The Happening this weekend. I wish I could talk about it, but it's near-impossible to do without spoiling things. Few people are more spoiler sensitive than myself. Kate said it best when she remarked that it was like a long, modern Twilight Zone episode. I still don't know if I enjoyed it or not. There are some really jarring scenes that stick with you, but...bah, I really can't say. I'd probably give it a 60 on a 100-point scale, if that helps. I pre-ordered Metal Gear Solid 4: Collector's Edition from GameStop a few weeks back. That's two things I usually don't do: A)Get the fancy shmancy version of a game, and 2) go to GameStop. However, recently I got an invite to the MGS4 launch party in W. Hollywood, and planned to go with Kate last night. They were promising a free copy of the game, and the chance to chat with Snake's voice, David Hayter, among others. Sounded good, but we ended up not going -- in part because I didn't hear back from my RSVP and in part because we were tired to "party." She went to bed, and I went to GameStop. Man, I forget how geeky some gamers can be. Especially in LA, it seems more conspicuous. I don't want to be too specific, and I myself am a nerd for waiting outside at midnight for a video game, but it was a little out of control. Of course, I got the game and came home and played GTA IV. There was a massacre in Akihabara Sunday, less than 24 days after I was shopping there. Some dude used his car to nail a bunch of random people, then jumped out and started stabbing people. For those not in the know, Akihabara is a thriving shopping center specializing in all brands of geek culture: computers, games, figures, etc. The world is not the personal fantasy-land of crazy/jaded people, though many have taken it for such in recent history. Japan alone has been victim to a lot of incidents like this as of late. Because you're a loser with no friends is no reason to end anyone's life. If you know me, you aren't surprised that a big part of me wishes it would've happened on Saturday so I could've done something to help. That's probably just anger and machismo talking, though. My heart goes out to those affected by Tomohiro Kato's senseless rampage. I'm sure he'll be dealt swift justice, but think how many have to deal with the repercussions... Lord willing, I'm coming home tomorrow (technically day after tomorrow, US time). This was a pretty good trip: We got some good feedbacking and communication going, everyone was cool to us, and I had a nice long Akiba day today. When I return and am rested enough, I will talk about all the crap I bought for other people, tell stories about my embarrassing laptop incident and physically abusing employees of both Yuke's and THQ, introduce you to Super BreadHead Man, and discuss just how many pork products I consumed. But it'll probably be friend locked, so act now-ish by getting a Live Journal account, adding me as a friend, and letting me know to add you. I'm in Japan. What more can I say? Nothing. That's a line from the G. Love & Special Sauce song about basketball. I like those guys. And it's appropriate, since I joined one of THQ's two D-League basketball teams. At first I was worried it'd be too competitive, but my boss' boss goaded me into joining. Our first game was Thursday. None of us had much game. The other team had lots. It was a slaughter, but it was fun. I was most excited about playing defense, and it showed. We played zone -- which I'm not thrilled about -- and I took half the baseline. I enjoy clogging passing lanes, going for steals, and grabbing rebounds. I did those things competently, and even blocked their biggest guy. On the other side of the ball, I had zero points. While the rest of the team trolled the perimeter, I was cutting in the lane and trying to get open. I was thrown some lazy passes that got picked off, and went 0 for 4 for the game. One shot felt really good going up, but was an airball; what up with that?! I set a lot of picks, but I don't think my teammates were used to that, so later I just cleared a space in front of them so they could shoot. I think our team's biggest adversary was fitness. I blew up early, but got my wind back quickly. Everyone else sort of slowed down over the course of the game. It didn't help that we only had one person on the bench. At one point, someone came down on my shoe, and it was half off. I just took it off, chucked it to the side, and kept playing D. I also took a pretty hard foul late in the game, and had the most fouls of anyone on the court (3, I think). It's funny to be in a game and see refs make the wrong call. They're human, but I see the emotion players have, like when a pass I deflected bounced off an opponent's shoulder and went out of bounds, yet it was ruled their ball. Hopefully my team will get their cardio up in coming weeks, more teammates will show, I'll get more shots, and our competition won't be as strong as those guys were. I used to think it odd when people would do hard warmups, but now it makes sense. You actually do need to get your engine revving, or it's kind of jarring. In other news, Kate's in KY this holiday weekend so I'm flying solo at home. I will either be productive or lazy -- most likely a combo of both. I'll miss her lots, but I should have a good time. Having posted about my newfound enthusiasm for System of a Down, I picked up the one album of their Best Buy had this weekend: Mezmerize. I gotta say, I'm disappointed. This sounds more like what I don't like about post-2000 hard rock, with less of what I liked about Toxicity. For starters, there are more quicky-catchy choruses with lower-brow lyrics. What I liked about Toxicity is that it's got some crazy verses yelled at repetition (i.e. "Where were the eyes of a horse of a jet pilot -- one that smiled as he flew over the bay"). The lyrics just don't seem as inspired in this newer album, and I'm not too happy with the non-Serj dude singing a lot more. He's just not as distinctive, and a little too Fred Durst'y for my tastes. Even the song messages seem to be watered down or missing. Compare genocide to bragging about having a bigger cock, and that's Toxicity versus Mezmerize. I'll try to keep an open mind, but obviously I've already had a negative reaction after 1 1/2 listens. It's still pretty good, though. Maybe I built it up too much, I dunno. I'm also late to the Ninja Scroll party. Finally watched it after buying it from a huge anime sale at DeepDiscount, and it's kick-ass. Lots of interesting characters, lots of gore, and a good story overall. It's inspired me to continue on my elusive personal writing project. By the way, erajia told me about how cool Ninja Scroll was, like 10 years ago. She's responsible for me getting into NOFX. Anyone else watching their show on Fuse, NOFX Backstage Passport? It's good stuff -- especially since the band has always been so camera-shy in the past.
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