There are certain things you just don't want to think about when you're leaving the office for lunch.
As I backed out of my parking spot, I looked over and noticed the Wookie's car had a new bumper sticker on it. It said:
"I'm going commando."
Friday, March 23, 2012
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
Arrrr, Matey
I started playing The Legend of Dead Kel expansion pack for Kingdoms of Amalur last night. I call it an expansion pack, because that's basically what it is: It's a new area on the map with new quests and new mobs and new things to do. It's not a pack of weapons or anything like that. It's how DLC should be done. You get 15% more map to explore for 16.6% of the price of the original game. I'm sure some self-entitled twat is going to complain about that, but I'm certainly not.
The expansion itself starts out with a pretty basic formula. You walk into a local tavern, and a man there asks you if you want to make a little extra money. He then propositions for you to set sail with a crew in a hunt for an undead pirate named Dead Kel and his crew of "Hanged Man" pirates. I don't know about you, but that sounds like a pretty fun adventure to me.
As expected, your ship crashes on the shore of a new land ripe for exploring. You spend a bit of time navigating through some waterlogged caves with the inept captain of your now decimated ship, and then end up in a village that seems to be oddly immune to Dead Kel's influence. That's pretty much where I left off last night, as it was quite late when I started playing anyway.
So far, the formula of the expansion is exactly the same as the main game, which is perfectly fine by me. I found some new enemies, and the new areas are nicely designed. I've only explored the beach of the shipwreck, and that's it, so I've got a lot of ground to cover yet. I haven't even finished exploring the first main settlement, let alone the wilderness that awaits beyond.
The expansion itself starts out with a pretty basic formula. You walk into a local tavern, and a man there asks you if you want to make a little extra money. He then propositions for you to set sail with a crew in a hunt for an undead pirate named Dead Kel and his crew of "Hanged Man" pirates. I don't know about you, but that sounds like a pretty fun adventure to me.
As expected, your ship crashes on the shore of a new land ripe for exploring. You spend a bit of time navigating through some waterlogged caves with the inept captain of your now decimated ship, and then end up in a village that seems to be oddly immune to Dead Kel's influence. That's pretty much where I left off last night, as it was quite late when I started playing anyway.
So far, the formula of the expansion is exactly the same as the main game, which is perfectly fine by me. I found some new enemies, and the new areas are nicely designed. I've only explored the beach of the shipwreck, and that's it, so I've got a lot of ground to cover yet. I haven't even finished exploring the first main settlement, let alone the wilderness that awaits beyond.
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
"The Threshold"
Before I get to the topic named in the title, I first want to share a rather interesting and well-written article on the subject of internet trolling. Have a look at it here.
The article caught my eye because I'd just made a post similar to it yesterday. I think the most frightening part of that article is the suggestion that human beings are actually cruel animals, and we're simply nice to each other because we have to be. I honestly don't know if that's true or not, but I hope not.
On to the topic at hand, I realized last night that every book I read has a "threshold". It's the point where I know I will continue reading the book until I'm finished with it. This threshold varies from book to book, but I always know it when I hit it.
In "The Stand", it was immediate. I still remember the opening bit. It was a man named Charlie trying to wake up his wife, because they had to escape. That hooked me right away. Escape from what? What's happening? Why do they have to run?
For other books, it takes a long time. The Gunslinger took until Roland told about his experience in Tull, and that was roughly a third of the way into the book I think.
Sometimes, it never happens. I was a few HUNDRED pages into The Sword of Shannara, and I still have no desire to continue reading it.
I was thinking about this last night because I've hit that threshold now in Black House. I think I'm 15% into the book. I suppose that's about normal as far as books go.
The article caught my eye because I'd just made a post similar to it yesterday. I think the most frightening part of that article is the suggestion that human beings are actually cruel animals, and we're simply nice to each other because we have to be. I honestly don't know if that's true or not, but I hope not.
On to the topic at hand, I realized last night that every book I read has a "threshold". It's the point where I know I will continue reading the book until I'm finished with it. This threshold varies from book to book, but I always know it when I hit it.
In "The Stand", it was immediate. I still remember the opening bit. It was a man named Charlie trying to wake up his wife, because they had to escape. That hooked me right away. Escape from what? What's happening? Why do they have to run?
For other books, it takes a long time. The Gunslinger took until Roland told about his experience in Tull, and that was roughly a third of the way into the book I think.
Sometimes, it never happens. I was a few HUNDRED pages into The Sword of Shannara, and I still have no desire to continue reading it.
I was thinking about this last night because I've hit that threshold now in Black House. I think I'm 15% into the book. I suppose that's about normal as far as books go.
Monday, March 19, 2012
How Do I Human Being?
With the rise of digital distribution for computer games, the Internet is more relevant than ever as an integral part of PC Gaming. I, for one, love digital distribution, because it allows me to get my games very quickly and without having to worry about losing discs or manuals. However, with the convenience of the Internet comes all the notoriety along for the ride, and sometimes it can be pretty damned disheartening to consider yourself a part of this community. If you don't realize what the Internet is, and what the Internet breeds, then you could find yourself pretty shocked when you see what the "majority" of people think about certain topics.
I'm here to give you one very important piece of advice: Nothing that you see on the Internet is the "majority". Nothing. I'll repeat: NOTHING. I don't care if you see a comments section where every single person is telling you a game is bad -- it doesn't mean ANYTHING. I don't care HOW passionate someone is hating on something. It means NOTHING. THEY mean nothing. Why? Well, for starters, only the people that hate the game are going to be inclined to comment. The others are all enjoying the game and have no need to troll comment sections. Next, human beings like to feel special, and the most popular way they know how to feel special is to jump on a Hate Bandwagon. It's called the herd mentality. That's right. Herd. I just called the Internet a bunch of sheep. And lastly, the Internet provides anonymity. If you give a human being anonymity, they will abuse it, and they will do things that they wouldn't normally do if their audience could see their face, know their name, or punch them in the fucking nuts for being a twat.
The bottom line is that it's perfectly okay to dislike a game, to say it's not for you, to say that you don't think it's worth the price of admission. It's NOT okay to just say something is crap and provide no other reason, to hate on someone else who likes the game, or to, in other words, be a useless troll.
I deal with people all day long in the real world. Very, very rarely to they act like self-entitled cunts who I want to curb stomp into ignoramus-paste. They don't confuse opinion with fact and they don't hate someone for thinking differently from them. In fact, at work we PRAISE people for thinking differently, because that quite often leads to finding a solution to a problem. It's called "thinking outside of the box".
So before I bestow upon you another very important piece of advice for when "you Internet", first I have a request: Don't be a fucking cunt.
And now for the advice: People are going to hate you and the thing that you like simply because you like it. That is it. Ignore them. Because you know what? You are a REAL human being. You're allowed to like things. And no other human being, no matter how self-entitled they are, no matter how big of a cunt they are, can take that away from you.
I'm here to give you one very important piece of advice: Nothing that you see on the Internet is the "majority". Nothing. I'll repeat: NOTHING. I don't care if you see a comments section where every single person is telling you a game is bad -- it doesn't mean ANYTHING. I don't care HOW passionate someone is hating on something. It means NOTHING. THEY mean nothing. Why? Well, for starters, only the people that hate the game are going to be inclined to comment. The others are all enjoying the game and have no need to troll comment sections. Next, human beings like to feel special, and the most popular way they know how to feel special is to jump on a Hate Bandwagon. It's called the herd mentality. That's right. Herd. I just called the Internet a bunch of sheep. And lastly, the Internet provides anonymity. If you give a human being anonymity, they will abuse it, and they will do things that they wouldn't normally do if their audience could see their face, know their name, or punch them in the fucking nuts for being a twat.
The bottom line is that it's perfectly okay to dislike a game, to say it's not for you, to say that you don't think it's worth the price of admission. It's NOT okay to just say something is crap and provide no other reason, to hate on someone else who likes the game, or to, in other words, be a useless troll.
I deal with people all day long in the real world. Very, very rarely to they act like self-entitled cunts who I want to curb stomp into ignoramus-paste. They don't confuse opinion with fact and they don't hate someone for thinking differently from them. In fact, at work we PRAISE people for thinking differently, because that quite often leads to finding a solution to a problem. It's called "thinking outside of the box".
So before I bestow upon you another very important piece of advice for when "you Internet", first I have a request: Don't be a fucking cunt.
And now for the advice: People are going to hate you and the thing that you like simply because you like it. That is it. Ignore them. Because you know what? You are a REAL human being. You're allowed to like things. And no other human being, no matter how self-entitled they are, no matter how big of a cunt they are, can take that away from you.
Friday, March 16, 2012
Thursday, March 15, 2012
Alternative Timesinks
There are two hobbies that I would embark upon, if I wasn't a gamer. Actually, there are probably more than two, but these are the two that I currently have on my mind. Well dammit, now that I'm thinking about it, I have more than these two on my mind. Like bicycling. Stop it, brain!
I was thinking about these other two hobbies this morning due to the weather. That probably seems odd, doesn't it? Well it'll make sense here in a moment. Y'see, the weather here has been incredibly nice over the last three days or so. We're talking temperatures in the low 70's and sunshine all day long. For mid-March in Pennsylvania, that's fantastic. This has naturally got me thinking about gardening, which is the other hobby I actively pursue in addition to gaming. (No one can say that my tastes are not broad and varying.)
Since I've been thinking about gardening, yet it's only March, I start thinking back to when I was in high school and also had this odd concept known as "free time". During March and April, before it was viable to actually plant things outdoors, I would actually germinate seeds inside beforehand on my own. It was always flowers that I would work with, and never vegetables because I never liked vegetables. Besides, I was planting these things around the house, not in a bonafide "garden". It's not exactly common practice to have pumpkins growing outside your picture window, now is it? Heh.
Moving on, thinking about this brought my mind around to the first hobby I have considered pursuing on multiple occasions: Hydroponics. I did a little bit of hydroponics in high school in my horticulture and floriculture classes. If you're unaware, hydroponics is simply growing plants in water without soil. Think of it like this: You have a six foot long PVC pipe about six inches in diameter. You drill 3-4 inch holes in the pipe every several inches, just big enough to fit a "starter pot". Then, you run water through the pipe -- you'd need something like an aquarium pump and a reservoir, naturally -- which would provide anything you'd plant in that starter pot with just about everything they need to grow. Put fluorescent lighting over it and you've got yourself some hydroponics.
It would probably be quite inexpensive to build something like that myself, but naturally there's the whole "free time" concept coming into play again. Plus, I'd need a good place to set it up.
And since suddenly I have work to do, I'll leave this post here.
I was thinking about these other two hobbies this morning due to the weather. That probably seems odd, doesn't it? Well it'll make sense here in a moment. Y'see, the weather here has been incredibly nice over the last three days or so. We're talking temperatures in the low 70's and sunshine all day long. For mid-March in Pennsylvania, that's fantastic. This has naturally got me thinking about gardening, which is the other hobby I actively pursue in addition to gaming. (No one can say that my tastes are not broad and varying.)
Since I've been thinking about gardening, yet it's only March, I start thinking back to when I was in high school and also had this odd concept known as "free time". During March and April, before it was viable to actually plant things outdoors, I would actually germinate seeds inside beforehand on my own. It was always flowers that I would work with, and never vegetables because I never liked vegetables. Besides, I was planting these things around the house, not in a bonafide "garden". It's not exactly common practice to have pumpkins growing outside your picture window, now is it? Heh.
Moving on, thinking about this brought my mind around to the first hobby I have considered pursuing on multiple occasions: Hydroponics. I did a little bit of hydroponics in high school in my horticulture and floriculture classes. If you're unaware, hydroponics is simply growing plants in water without soil. Think of it like this: You have a six foot long PVC pipe about six inches in diameter. You drill 3-4 inch holes in the pipe every several inches, just big enough to fit a "starter pot". Then, you run water through the pipe -- you'd need something like an aquarium pump and a reservoir, naturally -- which would provide anything you'd plant in that starter pot with just about everything they need to grow. Put fluorescent lighting over it and you've got yourself some hydroponics.
It would probably be quite inexpensive to build something like that myself, but naturally there's the whole "free time" concept coming into play again. Plus, I'd need a good place to set it up.
And since suddenly I have work to do, I'll leave this post here.
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
Nobody Likes My Toenails
The title of this post is a snippet of lyric from the song "Nobody Eats My Dinner". The song is by a band called Motive, who I hadn't heard of before yesterday. I heard part of the song on the radio during my quick drive to and from lunch yesterday, and looked the song up on YouTube when I got back into the office. I'll embed the music video below. The lyrics as a whole, if you haven't been able to tell already, are utterly non-sensical. But, I can't stop listening to the song. It's one of those cases where it sounds brilliant, so long as you don't really pay attention to what he's saying. The guitar is fantastic. The very beginning actually reminds me quite a bit of "Don't Fear the Reaper", which as anyone knows has brilliant guitar strings in it. I'll embed that song for you too, in case you'd like to listen to it. That song is from 1976 -- y'know, back when all those hipsters claim that music was still "good" then. (For the record, I'm not denying music was good then. I'm arguing that music is also good NOW, if you know where to look.)
To be clear, I'm not comparing these two songs. I'm merely pointing out that the guitar riff that begins 7 seconds into the Motive song reminded me of the B.O.C. song.
Since finishing Mass Effect 3 over the weekend, I haven't been playing a damn thing. This has led to more music listening in the evening, which is hardly a bad thing by any accounts. I'm simply bringing it up to explain the lack of blog posts lately, given that a majority of what I talk about here is gaming related. Because let's face it -- my life isn't interesting enough to talk about every frickin' day. Case in point: In addition to tapping away at this post, I'm staring at records in a database while waiting for soup to be ready. SO HARDCORE.
I swear there's a meme for everything.
As for me making a post about Mass Effect 3, it's not going to happen. I enjoyed 99.9% of the game, and that's all there is to it. The ending failed me, and I'm trying very hard not to let it taint the rest of the series for me.
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