Not sure how I missed this, seeing it happened a month ago, but...

The Internet Music Score Library Project IS UP AGAIN!!!!!!!

YYYYYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We can finally satisfy Dr. Evil's demands!

To change the name of an Akron denizen from Akronite to Akronaut.

A very merry unbirthday to me!

So pulling out of my parking deck this morning brought me face-to-face with one of the elusive Google street view camera cars!!! I'll have to check it when they put Akron up to see if they got my car. Didn't know they put up Cleveland about a month ago... I wonder when they took the pics for streets up there.

So I picked up Okami for Wii (because just having the PS2 version wasn't enough). I know I've said it before, but I'll say it again, because it bears repeating: if you have a PS2 (or Wii now) and haven't played Okami, go out and buy it. It is the single best game/work of art I've ever played, and I've played quite a few.

(Unless you've played it, meaningless ramblings follow...)

There are some differences between the two versions though, which I find kind of disappointing.

- I prefer the graphical quality of the PS2 version. It's more washed-out, which makes sense when you look at the style of Japanese artwork. Colors are nice and all, but they're too vibrant on the Wii. It also looks like a number of art effects are missing from the Wii... which may seem like a minor complaint, but the way the game was visually designed on the PS2 was so original and awe-inspiring that it's very noticeable... mainly the ink bleed effect of shadows and outlines of the objects. I remember clearly the subtle yet brilliant effect of your shadow acting as a brush stroke on the PS2... on the Wii, you just have a static black blotch underneath you.

- However, the controls on the Wii (once I get used to non-button-mashing combat... timing the wiimote swings is essential) are much, much, much better suited to the game. Drawing with a joystick doesn't come close to physically drawing the figures with the wiimote. That is, if the Wii could actually recognize a goddamn straight line. Maybe it just takes some getting used to, having played the PS2 version for 150+ hours (3 times through.... yes, it's THAT good).

- You can skip the cutscenes on the Wii. There are some reeealllly long cutscenes.

- They supposedly left out the (also brilliantly done) end credits and epilogue on the Wii. These were a nice ending to the heart-wrenching (I cried every time, no joke) conclusion.


So... it's either less impressive graphical effects on the Wii, or sub-par controls on the PS2.

I know I, for one, will miss you, Sir Arthur C. Clarke.

I'm now employed.

Will be doing C++ coding at BGI, a small company involved in commercial and military aviation simulation and training. Unfortunately it's in Akron, so I'll be moving in that direction as soon as I can get out of my lease. I've learned that hour-long commutes just aren't my thing.

Was contacted yesterday afternoon about the job, interviewed with them this morning, and they offered me a position while I was there and said I could start tomorrow. They weren't kidding when they said they like to move fast!

Grades are posted, and I'm now a college grad!

So I go to Chipotle for a burrito. Barbacoa and pinto beans. The lady puts peppers and onions on. "No, not a fajita," I say. I hate peppers with the very fiber of my being.

DILEMMA! What to do? What to do?

Idea #1 - scoop off aforementioned peppers and onions.... nope doesn't work so well.
Idea #2 - read Idea #1.
Idea #3 - Ask if it's ok. Yeah, that's it!

No, it's not ok. If it was ok, I wouldn't have fucking pointed it out in the first place. Some things are ok. If you had given me chicken or steak... carnitas would be pushing it... I probably wouldn't have said anything. I get chicken and steak on occasion. But peppers? G-R-O-S-S!

I mean, I know it's a ton of work to get a new fajita, put it in the fajita press thingy, then put a spoonful of rice on it. But you know what? I remember when they wouldn't even have tried to scoop it off. They'd have immediately thrown it away (take that, starving children!), then probably would have given me a free burrito. But it appears those days are no more.

And I've never been directly asked if something that I didn't order was ok.... I mean... what's up with that?

From the BBC - UK chooses 'most ludicrous laws.'

"The most absurd international law was judged to be in the US state of Ohio, where it is illegal to get fish drunk."

X-FILES 2 Begins Production Dec 10.

a) X-Files is awesome.
b) That's my b-day.

:D

I found out today that the Internation Music Score Library Project was shut down.

This was, in my opinion, The best way to find music scores in public domain. I very much hope that the project will continue in some way.

It's amazing the things that'll make you happy.

We played Die Zauberflöte Overture in our rehearsal last night just for fun. You'd have thought I won the lottery or something.

Signs that you've been playing Half-Life too much:

You hear something rattling making a clicking noise and you look around to see where the radiation is.

Orange Box tomorrow! Gogo Portal!

when you have some sort of idea what you're doing, simcity 2000 is really fun

gogo arcologies!

... and all I know is that it happened shortly after 9:00AM.

I had been out of the shower for a few minutes, getting ready to go to work, when BAM! The light in my bathroom flashed incredibly brightly, then went out. Ok, it was storming pretty bad, so I assumed lightning had hit or something. The power had flickered and everything was back on, but I didn't have time to check stuff. So into the torrential downpour I went.

I began to understand the extent of whatever the hell happened later in the afternoon, when my brother came home for lunch. He was having trouble connecting to our wireless, and I soon learned that our router was off for some reason. Unplugging it and plugging it back in did nothing... the thing just wouldn't turn on. Ok... maybe it was fried from the lightning. I guess a surge protector does nothing against something that strong. Thankfully, nothing else connected to my strip seemed to be broken. Getting a new router wasn't much of a problem... wasn't cheap, but at least it wasn't the modem, which would require a call to Time Warner and probably a longer wait.

But then I learned of something else... my brother happened to ask why my little clock on my desk was wrong, and that I should fix it. Now, if this happened to be a clock that I, say, plugged in, I wouldn't be surprised. But this clock runs on batteries. And I haven't touched the settings in months. Ok, now I was really confused. I mean, I thought maybe my batteries were low and it reset itself or something.

Then my brother mentioned that the window air conditioner wasn't working. Great. I thought I might be able to play around with it when I got home to get it working, but when I did, no luck. The little fuse thing (test & reset buttons, like on an outlet) on the plug would pop every time I tried to plug it in. Well shit, it's stifling hot outside, and I could practically feel how thick the air was, and our air conditioner wasn't working.

We also discovered that my brother's computer speakers stopped working as well. Which really pisses him off, since they're really nice speakers and cost him quite a bit. If it were my speakers that blew, I'd be a wreck if I had to go this long without music.

Well worrying about all this would have to wait until later, since we had to leave for my mom's birthday dinner. On the way back home from the restaurant, we stopped at a Home Depot, and my parents generously bought my brother and me another A/C unit. A quick stop at Target on our way back up to Cleveland, and we had our router as well.

We walked into our apartment, and soon discovered yet another oddity. My brother picked up his alarm clock and showed it to me. I got goosebumps.

"13:00."

I looked at him, probably with a horrified look, and asked if his clock had military time. Much to my relief, it did. Thinking back, that put the times that our (battery operated) clocks reset at the exact same time. Ok, so one event caused two clocks to reset, blow out my brother's speakers, fry our router and air conditioner, and scare me half to death when my bathroom light exploded and left me standing in a pitch black room.

And then the real disaster hit. My brother turned on our TV. Broken. Oh, it turns on all right, but I've never seen such an array of colors. Our blue background that we normally see on one of our Video channels now looks more like a color chooser for Photoshop or something.

So my question to you is.... what... the hell... happened???

More of a reminder to me...

Tranquility Base - Oceanic out on August 13.

I think I might have woken up in an alternate universe... Something is very wrong when the CEO of EA complains about the lack of innovation in today's games.

Gonna go play Madden 07/2007 Version 2.6 Roster 3 College Edition now.