Went to Hampton Beach today.
I have sunburns in some very unusual spots.

No comment... yet.

Linkage
You know you want them. I'm your link pimp.

* It's stories like this that make me question the writer's credibility, and Florida in general.
* This brings new meaning to phone sex. Hehe, I'm having a flashback of that 1-800-eat-shit incident. :)
* There's flaxseed oil in those pills I have to take. Lucky for me, that may mean I won't have to worry about prostate cancer later in life.
* Insert floppy. Get a punch.
* And because I take particular glee in watching software companies choke up and fail, here's a wonderful review of Anarchy Online from the people at Something Awful. Check out their pre-review, too.

Blah.
I really should strike a balance with the times I post stuff.

Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within review
I was really hoping this movie would kick a lot of ass. I really was. But it didn't quite live up to my expectations. Don't get me wrong, this movie wasn't bad. But it wasn't as good as I expected it to be. Maybe I hyped it up too much for myself.

I was sitting towards the back of the theater since the friend I went to go see it with didn't arrive on time. So, in order to find and recognize the punk, I had to sit in the second to the last row. That sucked, especially every time someone opened the double doors to the theater. Plus I couldn't check out the extra fine details of the animation from this far back. If I go see it again, I'm definitely getting a much closer look. If you can't see the grain of the projection screen, you aren't really watching the movie. Hehe.

The graphics of the movie are by the far the best I have seen in any other movie. The characters look great, and some have details like hair stubble. I particularly liked they did with hair: it flowed rather naturally when the character moved his or her head, and the way light is reflected off of it is wonderfully done. Character movement was not awkward, but lifelike. If you didn't know any better you would swear that some of the characters were played by human actors. The phantoms, which are the tinted yet transparent creatures that are overrunning the Earth, are visually appealing as well. The animations and graphics alone make the movie worth seeing.

You may want to get a matinée ticket price, though. The plot was very bizarre, and your typical 100-IQ blue-collar worker won't really know what the hell is going on. Heck, I'm still trying to figure out what happened in those 100 or so minutes.

I don't really know what I can say about the plot without giving too much away and without confusing you, my beloved reader. Square is, hands down, the best RPG console game maker of all time. However, those sorts of games take several hours to beat. It took me almost 34 hours when I played Final Fantasy 3 for the very first time. With that said, I think Square was setting up the movie with a great and elaborate plot. Unfortunately, no one is going to watch a movie for 34 hours, so I felt like they tried to wrap up the movie too quickly. The plot line had real potential, too. It's a shame that they had to rush it to make the movie not too long. You will notice that this was the case when you take a look at how the "bad guy" (the movie doesn't really have a "head bad guy," but you know who I'm talking about if you see the movie) no longer becomes a threat to the "good guys." It's irrational.

Also, there is a part in the movie where part of the city loses its power. All hell breaks lose, since the shields that prevented the phantoms from being able to get into the city get shut down. Chaos ensues, and "The Council," the governing board of the city, don't seem to be concerned that a sector of the city is totally getting bitch smacked. Bah.

Those are probably the main inconsistencies of the movie. Nothing to get hot and bothered over. You'll be too busy trying to make sense of the plot to worry about that.

And if you have played Final Fantasy 7 from beginning to end, prepare to see some similarities between that game and the movie.

I also like how the head scientist of the movie is named "Cid," the same name Square uses for every character in every Final Fantasy game for their head scientist or head engineer character. Tight.

So there you go. Make of it what you will. The movie didn't suck. But it didn't really kick ass, either. This movie takes computer animation to a whole new level. Too bad I was too busy trying to figure out what was going on to fully enjoy the eye candy.

"VWE" is the shortcut for "Incoming Hostiles!"
I got my wonderful video card after I went to see Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within yesterday afternoon with one of my homeboys who lives somewhere around Concord. More details about the movie itself a little later on.

So I tore open the box, sifted through the endless amount of foam peanuts, pulled out a box inside the box I tore open, and basked in its splendor when I noticed it said "GeForce2 GTS DDR" on the top corner of this smaller box. I opened it, ignored the installation guide and the CD that came with the card, and I removed the anti-static wrapping the card was enclosed in. Then I took the card out, looked at the fine circuitry of the card, and then I noticed a small hairline fracture near the GPU of the card. Damnit!

Actually, there was no fracture. I'm just a big fat liar. Heh. It just sounded more dramatic then saying "I looked at the card and I thought it looked pretty cool. Huh huh huh." Right...

So I uninstalled my old card, ripped the card out of it's native AGP slot, and tossed the new card in. I downloaded some drivers (the detonator 12.41 ones, I believe, should you be nerdy enough to care), and then I started a couple games up to see how they looked.

I only have two games currently installed on my computer: American McGee's Alice and Tribes 2 (see my gaming page for info on these games and others). The card didn't do much with Alice. I used to play Alice in 800x600x16, but with this GeForce2 card, I can run it easily in 1024x768x32. It doesn't look much different, though. I don't think the game was made to look a lot cooler with more advanced video cards. Sort of like how the GeForce3 doesn't make any game look any better right now since there's no games out there designed to take full advantage of this $400 card's processing capabilities. But I digress.

Tribes 2 was a different story. No longer do I have to look at color-bled terrain and faceless characters. No longer do I have to look at circular shadows and here rain falling but I can't see the rain (I had to turn precipitation off to boost performance). No longer do I have to stagger to get 25-30 frames per second in 800x600. Now, the game looks stunning. It actually looks good. I can get a decent 40 to 60 frames per second in 1024x768x32, and most of the graphics settings on and/or maxed out. Yipee! I will definitely play this game a lot more often now, especially once the cable modem arrives this coming Monday. I hope.

The card hasn't caused me any real problems yet. It did mess with my sound when I first installed. I'd be playing a game and then the sound effects would seem muffled. Or if I decided to play mp3's, I would not have any bass, or the songs would sound echoic, or the music would have bass but you could barely here the lyrics, It was quite bizarre. I reinstalled my sound card, and that seemed to help. I'm not sure if the problem is gone entirely though. Either way, I don't care, because I'll be formatting next week anyhoo.

Also, when I play a Tribes 2 game and if I start up my own server with about 7 bots in it, the game will play fine until I change maps. Then, the action gets choppy and my framerate drops to like 5-10 FPS. Ick. Exiting the game and coming back into the game does not relieve the problem. I have to restart my computer entirely to make it go away. I think the bottleneck here is my computer's CPU rather than the new video card. I'm not too sure, though, since I never tried to use my computer as a server for me and 7 bots when I had my old card in.

So all and all, I'm pretty happy with my investment. It also means I have to find something to do with my old card. Most likely, I'll sell it. If you want it, tell me. Otherwise, it'll probably go up for grabs on eBay. My old card is a little dated but it's nothing to scoff at. I have a p3 450 and with my old TNT2 card, I can run Quake 3 wonderfully in 800x600x16 at very high framerates (usually 50+, sometimes 100 in certain areas. Of course it the framerate drops the more action there is on the screen (~20-30 FPS.)), so it should be fine for the casual gamer. If it weren't for the insane system requirements of Tribes 2, I'd still be using my old card. So... uh... so there you go.

Jagr goes to Washington
WASHINGTON -- Jaromir Jagr got his wish for a fresh start, giving the Washington Capitals the superstar they've always wanted.

Jagr, a seven-time All-Star and one of the league's true marquee players, was traded by the Pittsburgh Penguins to the Capitals on Wednesday for three prospects.

"It's kind of like when we got Michael Jordan, right?" said Capitals owner Ted Leonsis, who brokered the deal last year that convinced Jordan to come to Washington as part-owner of the Capitals and the NBA's Washington Wizards. "The opportunity was there."

Eh... I don't think Jaromir Jagr is the Michael Jordan of hockey. Most people would say Wayne Gretzky is the immortal one of the NHL, while some people like me would have to disagree. :) Go Lemieux! :)

Well, at least the Pens have a lot of freed-up money in their salary cap to work with now. That should allow them to sign a few decent players, like their second stringers. Those bad boys play just as well as the first line of any team! No joke.

Some dated stories
I've been collecting links, but I haven't bothered to post any in a while. So I think I will get rid of a few:

* I don't know anyone who stole Magic cards back when that was the game to play. I din't think young'uns would steal Pokemon cards. What was I thinking?

* I wonder if this guy will lose his license for DWI.

* Want to know what the movie Tomb Raider is like? Don't worry! You can see the movie script here!

* What a way to go out, out like a sucker
But I'm on track, like a Long Island train
that can head up your mission, suckers who be dissing
Always on my jock like a snake always hissing

-- Part of "I'm Housin" by Rage Against the Machine

--------------------------------

Jon: DAMN
Jon: damn
me: ok
Jon: I found 11 different fonts that I would consider using for my banner
Jon: now I have to fucking choose between them
me: awww
me: you lead a tough life
Jon: fag

Ah yes. There's nothing quite like resorting to name calling. :)

More Planetarion talk
For your information, Jake's messageboard post was one of those typical "FIRST POST" posts where he says how "l33t" he is for having the first post... except he didn't really post first, so it's kinda ironic.

me: so, uh, are you gonna break 4 million or what?
Jake: no
Jake: i am about to attack someone huge
Jake: with all my ships
me: good plan
me: i heard keep a low score rocks almost as much as your post
me: kepping
Jake: heehee
Jake: KEPPING
Jake: hehehehe
Jake: hehe
me: fucking a

Spelling is for sissies.

Guess what I have!
I've been waiting for a cable modem for a while, and I'm proud to say that...

I don't have one. :(

The installer dudes were originally supposed to come at 11 in the morning, but they called saying that they would be at my house by 2:00. Unfortunately, Mother and I had to bail at 2:15. They weren't here by 2:15, so we left, and we told the person that was staying at my house to tell the cable guys to come back next week.

Yup, they did show up later. I would have cancelled my appointment with the doctor to show the cable modem peeps where everything is located, but if you cancel your appointment with 24 hours of the appointment, you have to pay for it anyways.

It's a damn shame, too. I have my computer in "ready to transfer everything to Mom's computer" mode. That way, I could format, install win2k, hope it doesn't break this time, and then set up IIS so I can put those ASP books I bought a while back to use. Oh well, I guess not... yet.

More pills for me
So I went to see the doctor "today" at 3:30 pm. There were people talking to the receptionist when I got there, so I kinda leaned on a nearby post. Then this middle-aged woman came in with her baby in a stroller, and she went in front of me, but then moved off to the side a bit. She was talking to the receptionist like they know each other pretty well. So I was thinking, "Cool, this bitch ain't cutting me off." She filled something out and the people that were ahead of me left, so I got to fill out some sheet of paper and then sit down for a while. It was 3:20 when I entered the place.

At 3:30, the woman with the kid was summoned by one of the doctors. I didn't think anything of it, since there are more than one of these guys working at this chiropractor / alternative medicine place. So then I just waited for a while. 3:40. 3:50. 3:55. I was getting pissed off. Shit was gonna go down if I didn't see my doctor soon. At just shy of 4:00, the woman and her baby left the building, and then I got to hang out with the same old dude that took a look at me a month ago. What the hell? I was totally shafted, and I haven't eaten since like 10 in the morning, so I was really starving for food. That harlot should have been the one waiting in the fucking waiting area for the last 40 minutes. Stupid Commie fascist pig. I was on time, for crying out loud. And as far as I knew, the doctors weren't running late. Grrr...

And even if she was late for her own damn appointment (like, she was scheduled for 3:00 or something), I should have gone first. Why? Because this was my appointment: I went in, I was given the "let's see if your arm will stay up if I poke you in various organs" treatment again, he told me that I should get another bottle of pills (supposedly, the maximum amount of time for me to be on this shit is three months, and I have already gone through one month), and he told me to come back in a month. That was it. I was in the fucking room with the doctor guy for like five minutes. That whore could have afforded to wait five damn minutes in the waiting area instead of me thinking of food for the 40 minutes I was sitting there. Damnit.

So there you go. More bovine prostate and flaxseed oil for me. This gall bladder thing may even be a birth defect of mine, or something hereditary. Supposedly, my mom had issues with her gall bladder and my mother's mother got hers taken out. It was unknown what my mother's father's gall bladder was like, since he was a drunk and his was like pickled all the time.

I still think this is a scam. I paid very close attention to what his "exam" was like, and then I tried to mimic it at home. My right arm is raised from my side and I have to hold it there. The doctor's left hand is placed in random upper torso locations, and his left hand acts like a weight on my right arm's wrist. If the arm stays up, that part is fine. If the arm goes down, I'm fucked. Well, it stayed up during the gall bladder part, but it went down after 15 seconds (15 seconds = 15 pills a day. I don't get it either.). Why did it go down? Because I believe he used more force with his left hand. That seems to work when I do it to myself, and you don't really notice a pressure or weight difference.

Try examining yourself (that sounds naughty), and you'll agree that this gall bladder thing is a bunch of horse puckie. And my mom believes what this "doctor" is saying. Whatever. He just wants more money.

Kiss of the Dragon review
Apparently, not everything is true on the internet. I was one of those guys that believed everything I read online (or seen on TV, or saw in the paper (and if you believe that, I have a bridge to sell you)), and my preferred portal has deceived me. Kiss of the Dragon was being played up in the ghetto theater in Concord. Yay. I think. Well, it gave me something to do on what turned out to be a rather miserable Sunday weather-wise.

First of all, I went into the theaters not expecting a plot from this movie. Since Jet Li wrote the film or directed it or did something other than just acting, I was under the impression that this was going to be like a Jackie Chan movie: full of action and very little (and very bad) dialogue. Well, the movie didn't really follow that route. Instead, they tried to give the movie a plot, and it failed miserably. The dialogue was more horrible than your typical Jackie Chan flick, and worst of all, there really wasn't that much ass kicking in the movie. In fact, you see like 60% of the cool stuff in the movie commercials. That is really lame.

The movie was kinda inconsistent, too. There's this one part where Jet Li is done kicking everyone's ass, so he goes back to his contact's store to rest and to care for his wounds. He looks pretty hurt; I thought he might have taken a bullet in the arm in the previous fight scene. Anyhoo, he's trying to stitch this gaping wound on his arm closed, but he can't really 'cause he gets a sudden case of arthritis or something. So the character portrayed by Bridget Fonda comes and sews up his wound. Then some bad guys come and Jet Li kicks everyone's ass like he was never injured in the first place. What the hell?

Also, there's a part where the head Paris police dude (who turns out to be the main bad guy. Don't worry, you know this five minutes into the movie. Seriously.) tries to shoot Jet Li while he (the cop) is driving. Of course, he misses because he's the bad guy and Jet Li is lightning quick. He ends up taking out some of his fellow officers instead. Of course, later in the movie, the fact that an officer took out another officer means nothing. The chief of police is still in business.

And how Jet Li kills the head police detective leader guy is also a bunch of horseshit. If it were really possible to kill someone in that matter, trust me, it would happen a hell of a lot more often in the real world. And I would make sure that part of my body is well protected at all times, especially if I play the head evil asshole character in an action movie. Bah.

This movie also involves prostitution, and if you intend to see this movie because of that, well, prepare to be disappointed as well.

Well, I essentially tore Kiss of the Dragon apart. The fact that they tried to make the movie have a plot really killed it. The action scenes are still cool; especially in the first fight scenes where this guy loses his upper body due to a well-timed grenade throw. That was tight.

If you are bored and can get a matinée ticket price of like $5 or less, then wasting your money on this movie isn't that bad of an investment. At least it will kill two hours of time you would have just wasted window-shopping at the mall.