Now you see him...

Okay, ArchieLeach is freaking me out.

Last week he was incommunicado, out of town or something. Butters and I left a voicemail for him where we heard he would be out through last Friday, at least.Where was he? Houston? New Orleans? E3? He didn't find it in his heart to inform either of us. I just hope he doesn't listen to his voicemail on speakerphone with clients in the office.

Not that we left a scandelous message or anything...

Anyway, the mystery deepened yesterday when he responded to a single email and then disappeared from the scene. Nearly simultaneously his email address started bouncing mails like crazy. What happened? Was he wisked away by aliens? Was he abducted by government agents?

Until we hear from him I can only pray he is safe and continue my investigation into his whereabouts.

Come back, ArchieLeach.

I saw a video of Shakira, the pop star, today. A guy a work is a huge fan, it seems. I must admit, she is pretty hot. I guess I could enjoy her if I liked modern pop music in general. I doubt that will happen anytime soon.

I had Michelina's Homestyle Bowls Vegetable & Beef Stew for lunch today. Not bad at all for a microwaveable frozen entree.

Ever a Crack Whore

So, last night my wife sees an ad for one of those TV News Magazines (like 20/20 or 60 Minutes or something) and they're doing a story on how addictive Everquest is. She calls to me from the other room (I was playing Zeus, which is a great game, I might add) and asks me if I've ever heard of Everquest.

I reply, "Evercrack?"

She immediately comes in the room. "Did you just call it crack?" she asks. "That's what they're calling it on this news program."

I laugh because it shows, once again, how with the times the news agencies are. Everquest has had the nickname "Evercrack" for at least the past three years, an allusion to its addictive quality. (It also got the nickname EverRat from the activities one performs during the first few levels of play: killing rats and other small creatures in order to level up.) It amazes me that the news agencies are sometimes so with the times and at other times so behind. They were complaining about the horrible effects of GTAIII on our society when that game became popular but are still decrying the harmful effects of Doom which is nearly ten years old -- more than a few lifetimes in game-years. It's like bitching about the harmful effects of 24 in one article and about the harmful effects of the A-Team in the next.

Sure, I realise that the vast majority of the viewing public has no idea that most 13-year-olds have hardly heard of Doom and are instead playing other (equally violent) games. They probably don't know that much about video games at all. My lovely wife, married to an avid gamer, had no idea what EverQuest was until last night. So they keep referencing old games that people have probably heard of while providing no news at all. I love major media...

So I had to promise that I'll never play EverQuest. Not a hard promise for me to make anyway, I'm waiting for Star Wars Galaxies.

Catfish and Warthogs

Q: What's the difference between a catfish and a lawyer?
A: One's a scum-sucking, bottom-feeder and the other's a fish.

Margaret Drabble is obviously of the side that hates this war regardless of the fact that (a) it's over and (b) we won with very few casualties on either side. There seems to be a contingent on the left side (and many on the left such as Jonathan Chait have pointed them out) that hates anything that Bush does regardless of if they agree with it or not. It is reminiscent of the right wingers who were anti-Clinton even when he signed NAFTA (which was a Reagan/Bush initiative) and reformed welfare.

Blind hatred (which this is) never solves anything and it does just as it advertises: it blinds.

For the record

I gave Puck that nickname. I also gave him the nickname Butters, as I recall.

GreyArea is not an assigned nickname, I'll grant you that. Neither are DeathSteed nor KillGore nor Kurse nor Tensor, my other online "handles". That being said, I haven't heard a nickname that has (a) been given to me by either of you or (b) that stuck.

I'm thinking Puck needs to have his nick changed back to Butters. He seems to be having too much fun with the whole "Puck you" line and whatnot. Can't allow that.

And I'm thinking your nick should be changed to "Catfish", like in the old joke.

A few responses

I am not one of those who subscribe to the "adding chicken makes it healthy" mentality. I'm pretty certain that my Papa John's Chicken Alfredo Pizza was healthier than a Pizza Hut Meat Lover's Stuffed Crust Pizza. I am also not one of those who subscribe to the "must eat only healthy food to be healthy" mentality. Papa John's Chicken Alfredo Pizza occasionally is fine. I could see a problem if it were daily but not occasionally. That being said, my laziness and lack of exercise has no relation whatsoever to what I consume: it has everything to do with my laziness.

Furthermore, I agree with Puck that you shouldn't be able to decide your own nickname. Of course, I'm not sure what we should call you. You're more a K-k-k-ken than an Archie Leach, in my opinion, but even that isn't adequate. Dobby was fun but also not quite "it". Judging from your choice of recreational sport we might have to call you "Bunt" or "Foul Ball" or even "Soft, not Hard, Ball". Perhaps "Air Ball" is appropriate, or "Brick". Puck, what do you think?

In regards to Campaign Finance Reform: I find it interesting that people who raise alarms about civil rights are the same people who want to restrict other's First Amendment rights.

In regards to the Teamsters: I haven't met one that I like qua Teamster... and I've met many. In regards to Unions: after seeing them intentionally bring my comapny into bankruptcy and cause the furlough and layoff of hundreds of their members for the sake of showing power I have less respect for them than ever. Remember all you commie pinkos; unions are corporations and exist to make money and continue their own existance, not to help their members.

Sleep

You know what drives me nuts? Sleep. Not lack of it nor too much. Last night I was really tired, falling asleep while watching Monster, Inc. (which was pretty good by the way -- I'll post a review at some point) and finally hit the sack at 10:30, after The Simpsons (Marge gets a bowling ball for her birthday. Oldie but goodie.). Two minutes into bed and I'm sawing logs. I get up once to hit the can -- the revenge of Papa John's new Chicken Alfredo pizza (which was fantastic) but besides that I sleep until 7am. Now, thats around eight and a half hours. Probably closer to eight hours total right? And what happens?

I'm still fucking tired.

Eight hours. I should feel like a king. I should be ready to take on the world. Instead I want to grab 40 at my desk. My coworker tells me that sleep is like a drug: the more you get the more you want. I'm thinking that that is a load of crap. Sure, oversleep and you feel tired. But oversleeping is like ten or twelve hours, not eight.

I need to get more exercise. I've heard that exercise increases energy (which is odd because it expends it). Of course at this rate, any exercise is "more" so I suppose I should say that I need to get some exercise. I want to run a half marathon by this fall. Which would imply that I should start running. I looked up sloth in the dictionary and saw my picture, only I wasn't in it because I couldn't bother to show up for the shooting. I was going to look up lazy but that was too much effort.

I need a nap. I'm cranky.

An amusing aside

I ordered my tickets to X2 via Fandango which I happen to like. At the ticket window at the theatre they had a digital screen behingd them with showtimes and info like what shows were sold out (very helpful). At the time I purchased they had a single show sold out at the multiplex. Not X2. Not Identity. Not anything that I would expect.

The sold out show was A Mighty Wind.

Amusing.

X2 review

I just saw X2 with the wife and brother-in-law. Pretty fucking sweet. Wolverine goes psycho. People not normally working together work together. Nightcrawler bamfs around like it's noone's business. And all-in-all it's a strong movie than the first.

A few complaints:

• Certain actors didn't carry over from the last film. Both Pyro and Kitty Pryde were different than in the first movie and this hurts continuity for buffs like me. Bobby was the same and, sure, the characters were basically cameos in the first film, but it still hurts.
  
• Some powers weren't very well fleshed out. This left my wife and brother-in-law asking questions to explain some of the powers. This wasn't at all true in the first film. True, there were a lot more powers to cover but I still think they could have done a better job. Perhaps some of the scenes that did help explain them are on the cutting room floor.
  
• Cerebro sucked. Cerebro was so cool in the first film. It seemed to suck in this one. Maybe it's just me or the way it was explained but I didn't like it.
  
• Not enough Kitty Pryde (Shadowcat) or Colossus. This is explained rather well but I still really like those characters and want to see more of them. Dammit. Maybe the actors weren't strong enough for lead roles. Maybe they thought it would complicate the plot. Either way, I got a taste and it wasn't enough for me.
  
• Some poor plot devices. One at the end which is plot necessary isn't explained at all from what I can tell.
  
• Dumb gadgets. Like "Cyclops' motorcycle" in the first film, there were some dumb-ass gadgets. In this one it's Cyclops' car. Dumb. This is the X-Men, not Inspector Gadget or James Bond. They already have The Blackbird, the cool jet that's in the comics, and Cerebro and the whole X-Mansion. They don't need cars and motorcycles and boats and hovercraft and space shuttles and on and on. This isn't Batman...
  

Enough of that shit. Here's some of the stuff I loved:

• bamf Kurt Wagner rocks! Nightcrawler was my favorite X-Man until the Claremont/Miller Wolverine series converted me to el skint. He was so very cool. Well acted and well developed. And the teleport effect was one of the coolest I've seen, better even than my wildest expectations. The introductory scene with Nightcrawler was cooler than Dante's vision of the ninth ring.
  
• skint Wolvie goes all out and it rocks hard. I missed the berzerker animal Logan from the comics in the first film but he raises his head here. He's a perfectly realised character and I love it.
  
• Great story. It felt right and made sense (for the most part, except for the occasional dumb plot device). It felt like an X-Men graphic novel, as it should.
  
• Good continuity. X-fans are continuity hounds and, apart from some actor inconsistencies, the continuity between this film and the first worked.
  
• Perfect setup for a sequel. Let's hope for an X3.
  

That being said, this is a better film than the first. Now since I gave the first four stars it guess I'll have to give this one *****.
'nuff said.
Bub

not Dobby

I fixed the Dobby thing. Sorry about that. Must have been a house elf editing it while my back was turned.

BTW, Mrs. Butters is not happy with the fact that I lent Butters the Fish Called Wanda DVD. She seemed to think that it wasn't a good movie. Of course, she's wrong and I just had to laugh. haha

Worms 3 interview

Butters, this one is for you. There is a Worms 3 interview here that you might find interesting.

Jughead (or is that Archie?), in case you're unaware, the Worms series of videogames is one of the few that I have seen Butters get excited about regularly. For some reason it appeals to him. If you don't know it: Worms is a turn based artillary game with lots of humor and enough violence to make Annie ban it. It's loads of fun.

It's all good.

At this point this is a private blog. The only people who have access to it are you, Butters and myself. You can give out the URL to whomever you'd like but I'm not publishing it on BlogSpot until we're satisfied with it and I have your okay.

Butter, I'm pretty sure, hasn't even replied to the invite yet. Heck, at his rate we'll see results sometime next month.

No problem. I'll change it now.

Yowza. We're live, not Memorex. Get with the fucking program!