WTF is it?

OMG, Did you happen to see that thing in the sky when the sun went down? Yeah, get this, it's called the Moon. The Moon. They invented it a while back before the internet. The Moon. What a catchy name. Genius.

Which got me thinking. If the Moon is perpetually falling around the Earth then it's bound to get tired, when does it sleep? Wow I mean, the Moon. The Moon, man. Does it get any better than that? I wonder what kind of fixed compensation for services the moon makes. Millions no doubt, if he's always working, always perpetually falling to the earth. It blows the mind. Moon, man, Moon man.

Google pages and Naughty Mario.

First there was Geocities, and it was terrible. Then there was Angelfire.. and meh. Now there is Google Pages. If you wanna make a website with google you're gonna need a gmail account. The interface is pretty slick (it feels much like blogger) and I was able to create a website in a manner of seconds. cool... maybe I'll use it for something, who knows what I'll do with it! All I know is that I've got a google page. yay!

In other news, since I've been thinking about nintendo a lot I went ahead and did something naughty.. I've gotten myself into SNES emulators. (Something I think Toddy-boy has been doing for years.) This is the emulator I use, zSNES. One could say that I have found myself a large collection of ROMS but then to admit that might bring up some legal issues. Either way I've decided to do it right and I've bought myself a cheap USB gamepad and I'm having a blast.

Death from above.

So the Nintendo DS has caught my eye recently, but I'm still not convinced I should pick one up. The two screens still put me off... how useful can two screens really be? (One of them being a touch screen w/ stylus). But there are a bunch DS only games that sounds really cool, like the New Super Mario Bros, and this game: DS MechAssault. It's obviously a mech game, and it uses the two screens in a cool way.

"The top screen will show the traditional third-person view of the action, and the bottom screen will show the inside of the combat, complete with battle mech controls. Using the stylus, gamers will be able to hack mechs, eject themselves, and switch weapons." (gamespot.com)

There's not much info on this game right now and the developers are somewhat obscure, so we'll have to see how good this game turns out. Yet, it sounds promising, so I'm gonna keep an eye on it.

Nintendo, I've always loved you from afar...

Well actually, I still own a gameboy so my love for Nintendo is closer then most people think.

Anyway, Nintendo is doing some pretty fancy stuff. I've been reading a lot of articles about how great the Nintendo DS is, that two screened portable gaming platform they've had out for awhile now. At first I was put off by the idea of a two-screened gameboy like device... I mean wtf? Why would I need to look at two screens to play one game? However after playing Mario Kart DS in a Target a few days ago I was convinced that the Nintendo DS is actually pretty sweet... but that's not all.

This puppy has Wi-Fi connectability so you can play games like Mario Kart DS over the internet. Pretty damn cool for such a small like device. But that's still not all! The Nintendo DS is going to get a web-browser (based off of Opera) and a TV tuner. Pretty impressive.

Of course there are a lot of great games one can get for the DS. Mario Kart DS is one example but there is a new Super Mario coming out of the pipes (pun intended) and a revamped Tetris game with a bunch of new ways of playing old school Tetris. The new Super Mario almost begs me to pick up my own DS.

But I think I'll wait.. that's cause a new DS lite is coming out sometime soon. A smaller, slicker version of the Nintendo DS... and I must say it looks pretty cool. The dual screens still kind of bug me, so if any of you out there reading this blog have a Nintendo DS would you tell me more about how much you like or hate it? I'd really like to know.

Well that's most of the Nintendo links I've got to share with you. There is one more, however. It looks like the new Zelda, Twilight Princess is getting pushed back till the Nintendo Revolution gets released (In November, I think). I can't wait for the Nintendo Revolution. Any person who calls themselves a gamer and isn't excited about the Revolution should give up calling themselves a gamer and turn in their badges. The thing looks amazing.

Gone are the days...

Memories. I tend to get flashes of memories when I'm doing something pleasent like taking a shower or driving a car. Anything can spark them and when a good one is brought back from the dark recesses of the mind my face lights up in a grin. I delight in memories. And now I'm going to trigger some memories that a few of my readers share with me.

Recently, during my early morning showers before work, I've been thinking about what I use to do on the weekends over the years I was in highschool. Namely driving around with friends listening to loud rock music (Rage Against the Machine, most of the time). We would cause general havoc as teenagers usually do (and should do, imho).

One such example of our nightly havoc was that of "coning". This was the ritual of finding a road cone somewhere on the streets of our suburb and depositing it on the front steps of a fellow friend or hated enemy's house. It was a good time because we didn't have to worry about buying eggs or wasting toliet paper, and it still delivered a sense of suprise to the receiver. I think I was coned at least once, and I think I have a good idea who did the coning.

When I'm reminded of the nights we went coning it makes me realize how great of a tradition it was. And so, When I'm an old and haggard grand-pa-pa I'll tell stories of my explotes and adventures. Of how on the wild nights in the suburbs we'd steal cones from the streets and drop them off on door steps unnoticed.. and how it was once a dream of my friend's and I to do the biggest coning hit ever seen... Who knows, maybe coning will rub off on the next generation and with a little luck it'll continue far into the future.

an IM exodus?

We have been using AOL IM for years. Since before highschool for some of us. It is deeply entrenched in our internet use. A part of its everyday landscape. Will that ever change? Will we ever use something else?

The ads atop AIM sometimes get out of control. Sometimes they start playing their video/audio feeds without my permission and sometimes they even grow 2x their size. I find it annoying, and so I went searching for a new and better Instant Messaging program, one without annoying ads.

I think I have found one: Google Talk. You'll need a gmail account to sign in. (For those who don't have one yet, let me know and I can send you an invite) The design is sleek and unintrusive. I kind of like it, save for the fact it doesn't have any smilies like AIM but I probably should cut my smily use down. :)

So I have turned on Google talk, my gmail account is cobaltgrc@gmail.com, that's where you'll find me. Join me and maybe we can kick our AIM habit for good. It will be hard at first. Change is hard, but in the long run it might be for the best.

On second thought... AIM.. 'I wish I knew how to quit you!'

and the house lay in smoldering ruins...

Friday night. I had almost drifted off to sleep, a prize earned from a long week of tedious work, when my door bell burst into laughter. At first it felt like a horrible dream and I tried to sleep through the noise that I thought was coming from my own mind. I guess I hadn't drank enough to quiet the demons. Then reality hit me and I was jolted from bed. The door bell was ringing like a madman without his medication.

My girlfriend, in her wild elegance dove from the bed into the cold air to check what was the matter. I stumbled for a dirty shirt and weeks-worn pants.

"Fire!" she yelled.

"What..? huh?" I asked, half in a dream, as I walked towards the window, which over looked the house across the street. That house, which normally had a way of blending in with the other houses of the neighborhood, was on fire.

Here is a picture:


Messed up, huh? Well I'm tired and I'm going to get back to bed. Don't worry, the fire fighters seemed to have put out the fire, so I don't think you need to worry about the fire jumping onto our house. The building across the street is still smoking and they are still hanging out with all their flashing fire trucks. They seem very interested in making sure it's completely out and now they are going through the building with flashlights to make sure. Thank God. They'll find and kill any fire they find hiding under anything because they've got good quality flashlights.

I'll take more pictures of the building in the morning and try to find out if anyone was hurt. Let's pray that no one was.