A Beautiful Flower

Just found out about this website that my cousin's cousin (???) started. It's actually a really cool concept and is similar to the idea I had about iTunes early in the month. The site is Aralie.com and it is still in beta but it is really cool. Basically it allows anyone to put up recordings of their music and people are allowed to download it for whatever price they want. The artist gets to keep 85% of whatever people are willing to pay and the rest goes back to the site. They also have an embedded application you can put on facebook or your blog or wherever. It's a really cool idea and could get pretty big if people spread it around more. I'm looking at you Gary. It's a great way for people just starting out to get their music around. The site needs work to make it more community oriented (top rated, most purchased, most listened to, recently added, etc.) but they are constantly updating it. They also have interviews and help promote small bands.

Harry Potter Trailer

The first trailer to the latest Harry Potter movie is supposed to be release today. Still waiting on it. Will update once I catch it.

Update: Check the trailer here.

NHL 09 Online Team

Check this video to find out something awesome about NHL 09...or just keep reading. According to the video you will be able to have your own team online in NHL 09. This team will be entirely made up of actual human players that each play their own player and have their own camera angle that follows that player. You'll also be able to create your own emblem and participate in leagues online.

The Hancock Step-Brothers

Went to the drive-in this weekend with Caitlin and saw Step-Brothers and Hancock. Step-brothers was just what you would expect from a movie with John C. Reilly and Will Farrel. If you like them then go see it for sure, if you don't then don't bother. Hancock was pretty good. I thought it felt a little shallow compared to superhero movies that are based on characters that have been around for awhile. Will Smith did an excellent job though.

My Favourite Blogs are Dying?!?!

I just followed a link in the comments of Xbox 360 Fanboy to This Site which mentions a huge cut to the budgets of the Gaming Network of Web blogs owned by AOL. I had noticed something odd recently when some of the sites had people posting under the name "(Name of Webblog here) Staff". I had never seen this before and didn't know what to make of it. Apparently a bunch of the blogs are limited to 5 posts a day and every other post must be done under a staff name and they will not be paid for it. How lame is that? The link mentions that this may only be temporary while AOL looks for someone to buy them out or possibly just until Q3 is over. I really hope that everything works out because I spend a significant amount of time on these blogs and love every minute of it.

An Idea for the Ages

I have spent several of the last 24 hours pondering the Xbox Live Community Games announcement. Personally I believe that, if it's done right, Microsoft could radically alter the entire video game industry. It's only a matter of time before there are hundreds of thousands of games on XBLC and people are going to need a way to find the one that's just right. XBLC will need an interface similar to Youtube with games having ratings and number of downloads info as well as a way to see them all listed by top rated or most downloaded. Also people need a way to follow their favourite new indy dev so dev's need their own profile pages with links to their own games. There should also be a comment system on each games page so people can write mini-reviews and give feedback to indy-devs as well as a way to search by title, genre, or keywords in game descriptions(ball-busting action!). None of this is novel and should be part of the service on day one. If it is and their are some true gems, like most people think there will be, then we could see a huge new source of revenue for Microsoft. The revenue generated by these games could easily match or outperform XBLA and even full-size games. This of course will lead to all consoles attempting it and shifting focus towards community developed games.

Now for the really novel idea. This ones for the guys in Cupertino. Apple should release GarageBand(the recording/mixing/mastering program) for free with all Macs(everything with OSX). Here's the kicker though, for the low, low price of $100 per year(to keep retards out) you can join the Recording Artists Club. What this allows you to do is take any recordings that your "band" makes and release them on iTunes for $0.50 a song. Apple would take $0.10 from every song and the rest goes out to the person/people who submitted it. Once again stealing ideas from popular community sharing sites and programs (like youtube) this idea could radically alter the music industry and allow some of the newest and freshest sounds to be found. One important feature that would probably be necessary is a quick song preview. People love to support grassroots/indy music and this would be an excellent way to serve it to them. I think it would be a serious winner.

XNA Community Games fulfills all my wishes!

At a press event in Seattle Microsoft confirmed that XNA Community Games will launch later this year. What is XNA Community Games you ask?

In 2006 Microsoft released XNA Game Studio Express, a full game language and pipeline built on C# that allows average programmers to make video games for the Xbox 360 and Windows, for free. In 2007 they upgraded to XNA 2.0 which allows online gaming and cross-platform gaming from Xbox to Windows. In 2008 they will upgrade to XNA 3.0 which will allow Zune games to be made.

At the Game Developers Conference Microsoft announced XNA Community Games. A service that will allow "average joe's" to make games using XNA for the Xbox 360 and then release them for download to all Xbox Live members. All games are rated by fellow XNA users before being put on the service.

The new deets announced today are as follows:
All XNA games will be either 200($2.50) MS points, 400($5.00) MS points or 800($10.00) MS points.
The games will be limited to 150 MB file size.
The games can allow players to play over Xbox Live.
All games will have a free demo.
All games will have trailers.
Games will not have achievements.
The developer of the game will receive up to 70% of the revenue (MS take is based on advertising and promotion, the more they promote the game -> the more money they take)

I already have the ability to make incredibly simple games like pong and breakout with XNA and honing my skills this year could see me making actual money in game development by the fall! How sweet!

Lightning Ride

So lately I have been reading a lot about hybrid and all-electric cars and I think I really want one. The major problem is that there aren't any good ones available in Canada. My favourite is probably the Tesla Roadster but I also just read that Mini is going to release an all-electric version, but of course it's only in the states and maybe even only in California. Stupid California getting everything awesome.

I also like to read AutoBlog Green every now and then to see what's up with "green" vehicles.

Retrospectives

If you have absolutely nothing to due and need something to kill some time I highly suggest the video retrospectives over at GameTrailers.com. Basically they are recaps of all the games in a specific series. There are ones for Mario Kart, Zelda, Final Fantasy, Metroid and even Star Wars. I don't know who it is that narrates them but his voice is right up there with Alan Cross. Definitely check them out if you have the time cause they are an excellent read? watch? time...(I guess that works).

Halo Wars

I've been reading a lot about Halo Wars recently. For those not in the know, Halo Wars is an Xbox 360 exclusive Real Time Strategy game being developed by Ensemble Studios. (makers of Age of Empires and Age of Mythologies) It is set in the Halo Universe (obviously) and takes place before the events of Halo: Combat Evolved.

Basically the big deal is that RTS games haven't really worked on consoles in the past. Mostly this is due to the fact that most RTS console games have been ports from the PC and are too complicated to map to the controller. Halo Wars is being built from the ground up for the 360 so it shouldn't have these same issues. Ensemble is working really hard to make sure that the controls work really well and allow for all the fast, micromanagement style gameplay necessary for a success in this genre.

Check out more at HaloWars.com.

Dark Knight

Just saw it. It was excellent! One thing I noticed though is how it seemed like it was never going to end. It's like there are multiple climaxes and even though it's only just over 2 hours, the high tension and excitement throughout made it seem like it was forever before the credits rolled. Definitely a stellar movie. 2 thumbs up.

Also I heard that it beat out Spider-man 3 for all time highest opening weekend boxoffice take. Of course people wanting to see the recently (and prematurely) deceased Heath Ledger play as the superb Joker greatly increased hype and interest. Good movie though, very good.

KOTOR MMO Confirmed

According to This Post on Portfolio.com, EA has announced that LucasArts is collaboration with Bioware to make a Knights of the Old Republic MMO. EA chief executive John Riccitiello confirmed the news in an interview, saying "We've got two of the most compelling MMOs in the industry in development,". The first of which is the new Warhammer MMO which we knew about but he had this to say about the second, "And the one that people are dying for us to talk to them about -- in partnership with Lucas, coming out of BioWare, which is, I think, quite possibly the most anticipated game, full stop, for the industry at the point when we get closer to telling you about it." Now Joystiq mentioned that it seems Portfolio.com is the one to put two and two together to get KOTOR but the original article was update with this question and answer:

Does Riccitiello mean the oft rumored Knights of the Old Republic Online? "Yes," he said.

So there you have it! The greatest news I could have hoped for from E3 this year! I've never really been an MMO kind of guy but this is too good to pass up.

A video you have to see to believe

This video is crazy. A kid makes full on replicas of Halo weapons using only cardboard and paint. The weapons can even be reloaded. Truly mindblowing.

Deeply Disappointed

I just read on Joystiq that Bungie was supposed to announce a new project tomorrow morning but the announcement was canceled by Microsoft. This saddens me to my very core. I had been looking forward to this for quite sometime. Now I'll have to wait to find out about the Superintendent.

The Sword of Inscaprion

Today at work I was blanking parts that take so long I could sit down for 2 minutes after each one. This was cool for the first little while because I got to rest up and cool off a bit. After a while though I began to get antsy. Each part that I blank has an extra piece attached to it when it comes out that I have to remove. These extra bits are thrown in a big bin and eventually sold as scrap. I was playing around with a bunch of pieces of scrap when I found a long straight piece with a funny shaped end. I folded this end to wrap around my wrist a through my middle and ring fingers. I then proceeded to swing it around like an awesome sword. I, of course, was the coolest person at the plant cause I had an awesome sword like weapon until I swung it around real hard and hit the side of the scrap bin. The sword managed to snap apart and really hurt my wrist. Luckily it was pretty much time to go so it wasn't a bit deal that my arm hurt so bad I couldn't do my job. Time well spent.

Microsoft at E3

Yesterday was Microsoft's Pre-E3 Press Conference and it was jam-packed full of megaton bomb-style announcements. I will try to list these announcements in order but I'm going entirely on memory so it may be sketch.

Fallout 3 will be awesome.
Resident Evil 5 will have online Co-op. March 13th release date.
Gears of War 2 will be awesome and have a new 5 person Co-op mode. Nov. 7th release date.
Fable 2 is finished and will launch in October. Online co-op confirmed.

Complete Dashboard refresh this fall.
Includes Avatars, Netflix partnership, Primetime gameshow games, Live Parties, 8 person group chat.

Community Games launches this fall.

Geometry Wars 2 next month.
Galaga Legions next month.
Banjo Kazooie original for XBLA.
Banjo Kazooie Nuts and Bolts this winter.
Viva Pinata Trouble in Paradise this winter with 100+ pinata species.

New Scene It game.
New Your in the Movies game with vision camera.
New Lips Karaoke game with strobe light microphones.

Infinite Undiscovery in September, 360 exclusive.
The Last Remnant this Holiday on 360 first.
Star Ocean 4 next spring, 360 exclusive.

Final Fantasy XIII day and date on Xbox 360 in NA and Europe.

The Jays Game

Yesterday my Dad and I went to the Jay's game at the Roger's Center. We had these awesome seats right behind Home Plate about 20 rows up. A.J. Burnett pitched for the Jay's against Andy Petitte for the Yankees. If you haven't been following the Jay's I don't blame you. They are in last place in their division and lose all the time.

The game started off excellently with A.J. pitching three straight strikes to get the first batter out. He continued to be excellent up until the ninth inning when they decided to pull him and bring in the closer, B.J. Ryan. In the second inning the Jay's put up the first run on a RBI single from Scott Rolen. Adam Lind was walked right after and, after trying a bunt on a couple pitches, Marco Scutaro blasted a three run shot into the Jay's bull-pen.

The Jay's won 4-1 and it was probably one of the best games I have been to. I really hope that new Manager Cito Gaston can pull things around after the All-Star break and they can get into the playoffs or something. It looks pretty doubtful right now though.

The Behemoth

Saturday was my works Family Picnic Day at Wonderland. It only cost me $10 to get two tickets to Wonderland and they included lunch. Caitlin and I left early from her house to get to the park at a decent time. Once we arrived we rode Top Gun Flight Deck first. Apparently since the last time I was there they have dropped the Paramount license so now they had to rename anything that was named after a Paramount movie. Totally lame.

The second ride we went on was Psyclone which is still one of the best rides there. While waiting in line we spotted my sister and her friend Megan in line for the Behemoth. The line was ridiculously long but we had to try it so after Psyclone we went and got in line for the Behemoth. The line probably took about an hour for us to get through, which isn't too bad. Also there was vending machines right in the line in case we wanted a $5.00 bottle of vitamin water. (We decided we could wait)

The ride itself has very cool seating. There are three trains and each one has eight cars. The cars themselves have 4 seats that are setup so that everyone gets a good view. This is done by having the two front seats together in the middle and the two back seats apart on either side. The restraint is simply a lap bar that pushes you down into your seat. It is rather comfortable.

The ride begins with a huge hill that goes down at 75 degress. It feels like straight down and is absolutely excellent. After that are several hills that you hit at a good enough speed to feel completely weightless at the top. Its so pimp. If you haven't ridden it then you absolutely must.

Hedgehog!

Caitlin and I went to get her pet hedgehog today. He is still pretty small cause he is only 5 weeks old. He is really, really cute though. He is very adventurous and curious and not nearly as shy as I thought he would be. He really dislikes Caitlin's Mom though. He curled completely into a ball and stuck is quills straight out. He then bit her when she picked him up. I thought it was funny. A little while ago he also pooped on her dad. I don't think he meant anything by it though.

You'll notice I keep calling him "him" or "he" because he doesn't have a name yet. We can't think of what to call him. If you have any ideas make sure to leave them in the comments.

Mood: Cudly

I AM THE BEST!

I Guess I'll Have to Get an IPhone...damn...

Today while I was at work I must have crashed into something. At the end of the day I pulled my phone out of my pocket to check the time (watches are for losers) and the small screen on the front wasn't working! This really pisses me off. Already I have a pretty basic phone but it was in good shape and worked well. Without the front screen though, this phone is trash.

I want to get an IPhone a new phone that isn't too expensive and is rather nice. I don't really know anything about what phones are available though. I guess I'll just keep my crappy one for the summer and then worry about it in the fall. I don't really have any money anyway.

Mood: Distraught!

The Hiccup! (No 'S')

So today while I was working I managed to get the hiccups hiccup. That's right I hiccuped just once. One single, lonely hiccup. It sounds pretty uneventful but that's because you haven't heard what followed. Right after my single hiccup I felt like I was going to hiccup more but couldn't. This was accompanied by some of the worst chest pain I have ever felt. It lasted for about 20 minutes then slowly dissipated. Weird, I know.

Mood: Whimsical

Wall-E

Caitlin and I went and saw Wall-E tonight. I thought that while it started off a little slow, it definitely delivered by the end. Probably up there with the best of Pixar, I was really impressed with how they get the story and feelings across with characters incapable of speech.

There were several children in the theatre(it is for the kiddies you know) and at times it's pretty rough goings for Wall-E. There is one moment in the movie where a child actually jumped out of his chair and screamed because he cared so much for Wall-E's safety. Pretty impressive when you consider that Wall-E can't speak.

All in all I say it's a can't miss. Feel free to wait until it hits dvd or blu-ray if you'd rather see action packed movies on the big screen but you're screwing yourself if you don't get around to seeing this one.

Mood: Impressed

Cold Storage?!? More like Cold Suckage!

Just played some of the Bungie Day Halo playlist on the new map. It was my first time playing Halo since I finished school this year. That may not seem like a long time to some of you but during school I played everyday. Also it turns out that if you don't use it, you lose it. I know because I sucked royally. I did win a round of swords but I've always been the master of swords and with Bumper Jumper on its not even fair for the other players. I'm pretty sure in that match I managed to kill two guys with one sword lunge. After that I played a round of BR starts and got smoked. It was kinda embarrassing. Getting ready for bed now cause I work tomorrow(insert farting sound).

Mood: Embarrassed due to lack of skillz(note the "z").

Superintendent?

I was just on Bungie.net, the website for the creators of Halo(where have you been?), because today is Bungie Day! Every year on July 7th (07/07) they celebrate Bungie day because Bungie loves the number 7. It's weird, I know. Anywho, there is come craziness going on in the forums because a new person has been posting over the last couple months with the rank of Superintendent and fancy green text. I know it seems weird but Bungie fans eat this shit up. So now everyone is trying to find new info on this guy and who he is. Some people think he may end up being a new character from a platformer they are working on. Others think that he is pointing to them re-making an old Halo 2 map called Terminal cause it had a subway and he frequently says things like "Your tax dollars at work" and things you can hear in the background of the Halo 2 map.

He also has a little picture showing up everywhere. It has appeared on Bungie Employee shirts, during videos made by Bungie, on the Bungie webcam, and other misc. places. I for one am very intrigued and I hope it turns out to be the platformer thing. That would be awesome!

Mood: Intrigued...very Intrigued(Insert thinking pose including chin scratch)

He's a big-shot owner guy.

Today I received my first ever share certificate in the mail. I am now and official owner of Fortis Inc. I plan on using this singular share to join Fortis' Dividend Re-Investment and Share Purchase Plan. Then I will be able to buy shares without paying any fees and my dividends will be used to buy more shares at a discounted price. Then later I can sell all the shares at(hopefully) a higher price than I payed for them and make some money. Cool. Making money is neat when you don't really have to do any work.

Mood: Financial

Andrew's Lunch Capers

My brother is kind of not all there. Especially in the morning when he just wakes up, which makes for some interesting times at work. See Andrew is too lazy to bother making his lunch the night before(I am too!), so often he is left to quickly throw one together in the morning. Often something microwavable(hurray for Free Radicals!!).

Now these food stuffs require utensils to eat, especially when fresh out of the microwave, but often Andrew is too rushed to remember to bring one. It usually takes until lunchtime for him to realize he doesn't have a fork or spoon. If I have one I will lend it to him but often I don't bring one cause I don't need one(I eat a lot of pizza pops).

So far there have been three times that he has forgot and hasn't been able to borrow one. The first time he needed a spoon. After asking me and searching all through his lunch bag and the lunchroom, he decided he would buy a cup of Chinese noodles out of the vending machine cause they came with a spoon. It cost him $2.50 to eat his packed lunch that day and I'm pretty sure he still has the noodles.

The second time it was a fork that he forgot. See he had a chicken pie that you leave in the box when you microwave. Deciding not to spend money to eat his own lunch, he fashioned a make-shift spoon out of the cardboard box. It was basically just a folded piece of cardboard that he used like a scoop. Quite humorous.

The third and most recent time(today in fact) he was attempting to eat left-over beef stir fry. When he realized he had no utensil, he of course cursed his face off and then looked everywhere for something to help him eat. After searching my lunch bag and his own pockets, he decided to use the two pens he found as chop sticks. Suffice it to say they were pretty disgusting after he was done with them. The grossest part is that he had been using his pen all day to write on his time card, and I'm pretty sure he cleaned it off and continued to use it after lunch. Now I don't know how messy his hands get when he works but I know that mine are just covered in grease when I go to write on my time card.

All in all it was pretty disgusting. I'm hoping he can get even more creative the next time he forgets...oh yes there will be a next time.

Mood: Happy

POOP!!!!

My sister's dog cut a turd on my bedroom floor today. I left a note for her to clean it up when she got home but of course she still isn't home so I had to clean it up. I'm very unimpressed right now as you can imagine. I personally believe that there is no way in hell Amanda should have a dog. She is way too irresponsible!! The dog is teaching her things and she does seem happy and not such a bitch but she can barely look after it. She is too busy having a life and everything so whoever is home gets left looking after the dog. The problem is that my dad is more than willing to look after him. I really think my dad should have stepped up and not let Amanda keep the dog. He's also chewed on one of my 360 controllers and ruined my Rock Band guitar. I don't even know who to blame because apparently this happened when she wasn't looking after him!!! I try and say its her fault cause its her dog but she wont listen. It's just total balls.

Mood: Pissed Off

Fun, Fun, for Everyone

I'm at Caitlin's house right now. We just finished dinner and now we're in her room. She is cleaning up because she just set up her hedgehog cage and it takes up a lot of space. I can't wait for her to get her little hedgehog! I have seen pictures and he is so cute!

I haven't been blogging very much because I've been busy doing a whole lot of nothing. My week off is coming to a close and of course I got pretty much nothing constructive done. Oh well. I'm sure once I'm back to work it will be regular updates from me. I'm going to write more about news and current events and stuff. Cause I wanna get better at writing like a journalist or something.

Mood: Content

Saturday Night

Just catching up with Gary and Jenna Hubbert. There is nothing to do in Stroud on Saturday.

My Dad's Laptop

Today my brother and I went with my Dad to the local Best Buy and picked up a laptop for him. He got a nice 17" compaq with a 1.7Ghz processor, 3 GB ram, 160 GB hard disk, wifi, and windows vista.

Basically the only reason my dad wanted one was because he always sees me and my brother on the internet or whatever while watching tv or a movie. He wants to be able to do work and surf the internerd while watching tv basically. He is so high tech now...

My brother of course was trying to get him to buy the nicest laptop possible and all kinds of accessories. I was trying to find one that only had what he wanted and the sales person was trying to get him to upgrade to somewhere in between. Of course my dad didn't listen to his kids and instead went with what the sales person said. Oh well, it's his money not mine.

It's very funny watching him try to set it up. It's even funnier watching Andrew try and help him by telling him to set it all up the way Andrew wants it. They bicker like old people.

Mood: Entertained

School is Dumb!

My school is retarded. I found out that I can look up my classes for next year to see what times they are at and generally plan my schedule. Unfortunately they have changed the names of the classes I'm supposed to take and the classes I've already taken.

So I had to find out which classes I've taken and what I'm supposed to take. After figuring this out by looking up the course codes for everything I've taken and the course calendar of what I'm supposed to take, I finally started to figure things out. There are still some retarded problems though.

First off, last year I dropped a course in first semester because I wasn't doing well and wanted to concentrate on my other classes. That meant that in second semester there was a class I couldn't take. I figured I'd just take the one class first semester this year and the other in second semester. No big. I think this strategy will still work.

Now, according to the course calendar there is a class in first semester that I'm supposed to take that I shouldn't be able to because I don't have the prereq. I tried looking it up and it isn't there. Instead there is a class that I'm supposed to take second semester instead. I figured they must have changed things and haven't updated the course calendar yet. So, my first semester should consist of 5 classes, 2 business classes, 1 gaming class, 1 class I'm supposed to take in second semester and the class I dropped last year.

Second semester is a little more screwy. I found the class that is supposed to be in first semester and I still won't be able to take it because I don't have the prereq. Unfortunately one of the other classes for second semester has a prereq of the class that is supposed to be in first semester but isn't. How the hell can they have a course with a prereq in the same semester as the prereq. This is so dumb. So now I have to e-mail my advisor and try and sort this all out. What a clusterf*ck.

Mood: Confused and angry

Home Again

I'm back at my house with the rest of the week off. Kinda bored. Caitlin and I just went and watched the fireworks in Barrie. They were pretty pimp. There was a rediculous amount of people there.

We went and watched Get Smart earlier today. It is rather good. I think Steve Carell was excellent and Anne Hathaway was much better than I expected. I wasn't sure how she would do with the serious role of the ass-kicker. She handled it very well.

I read a review for "The Dark Knight" on IGN and they gave it 5 stars. You should really go check out everything they say about it because they just heap praise all over it. I'm hoping that doesn't raise my expectations too high.

Mood: Tired

It Turned Out Alright

So today turned out to not be so bad. The weather cleared up and I got to go swimming. We couldn't get the Jet-Ski to work for some reason but I was allowed to take the Sea-Doo out all by myself. It was awesome.

My cousin drove us into town on the boat and we got ice cream. It was awesome. Also I visited my other cousins girlfriend at work. She is super nice and I really like her. She came over after we finished dinner and everyone asked to go home and get her Wii. I said I'd go with her and she let me drive her Pontiac Solstice. It's so pimp. I want to steal it.

Everyone is playing Wii now and of course it's a blast when there is lots of people. We have been having issues with controlling connecting though. It turns out I'm the only one who knows how to connect a wii controller to a wii. Weird...

Mood: Entertained

RAIN!?!?

So lots of rain has ruined my long weekend. How lame. I could have stayed home and hung out with my girlfriend but instead I'm stuck farting around on my computer because I can't go swimming.

Mood: Disappointed

Up North!

I have arrived at my Aunt and Uncles. We brought my sisters stupid dog and it keeps fighting with my Aunts dog. The weather is relatively nice here and I'm hoping the water is excellent too.

On the ride up I watched "A Goofy Movie" on my computer. It's not quite as good as I remember but it was still alright.

Diablo 3 was announced this weekend. I've never played the other Diablo games but I'm definitely considering playing this one. Blizzard knows there stuff when it comes to RPGs.

Mood: Lackadaisical

Saturday!

It is finally the weekend. Awesome. Sadly the weather is crap. I think I'm going to go swimming anyway though.

Mood: In love with Caitlin

Hooray for time off work!

So glad I don't have to go to work next week. Looking forward to a party my sister is throwing tomorrow and going to my aunt and uncles this weekend.

Mood: Excited

I don't want to go to work

Pretty much self explanatory.

Mood: Depressed

Laid off...

So I found out that after tomorrow afternoon's shift I will be off for at least one week. In a way this is so totally awesome and I'm so glad that I'm laid off, but it also means no money for me. I'm not too worried if it's only for the one week but if it lasts any longer than that I might be screwed.

I'm going to my aunt and uncles house this weekend for the Holiday. I'm hoping the lake will be nice and warm because I love to swim. I'm also hoping to get some wakeboarding or jetskiing done. I'll probably take my laptop up with me too so I can get a start on making some of the games I've been wanting to make all summer. I figure I should make some crappy games and get used to the language and pipeline before diving into making my own epic masterpiece.

Mood: Conflicted

Star Wars: The Clone Wars

I just read a preview for the new Star Wars animated movie on IGN and it's looking pretty neat. The movie will be around 2 hours long and is basically the first three episodes of the new animated TV series. The show will be hitting cartoon network in the fall.

According to the article, the plot centers around the kidnapping of vile gangster Jabba the Hut's daughter. The Jedi are given one "Tatooine rotation" to find the girl or the Hut clan will ignite a war against the Jedi. Of course this all happens during the current fight against the Confederacy of Independent Systems.

Yoda tasks our heroes Obi-Wan, Anakin, and his new Padawan Ahsoka Tano the job of finding the little Hut which leads them across the galaxy to several different battle zones. The only returning voices to the movie are Samuel L. Jackson as Mace Windu, Christopher Lee as Count Dooku, Anthony Daniels as C-3PO, and Matthew Wood as the lovely General Grievous.

Star Wars: The Clone Wars force crushes theatres on August 15th.

Mood: Excited

Sonic's Birthday

A couple days ago Sonic turned 17 and I never got a chance to say Happy Birthday. Sonic is the man(hedgehog?), unfortunately all the games he has been in lately have been suck-tacular. Recently announced is a new Sonic game called Sonic Unleashed which is looking pretty good right now and might mean a return to glory for the blue flash.

Also coming out soon is a Sonic RPG for the Nintendo DS. Developed by the one and only Bioware, makers of Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic and Mass Effect, it looks to be an excellent offering that may actually leverage all the crazy side characters and put them to good use.

I really hope Sonic can turn things around because he is one of the greatest names in video gaming and if he isn't in a good game soon then he may lose his entire fanbase.

Mood: Nostalgic

My Brothers War

I think we have some kind of earwig infestation at our front door. Earwigs are probably the most disgusting of all bugs and Andrew can't stand the fact that they seem to be everywhere when we get home from work. Tonight on the way in I watched him try to kick several of these small bugs off the front step and knock some off the front door so they couldn't get inside. It was quite hilarious.

I'm hoping they retaliate by coming back in greater numbers and we see an arms race on the scale of WWI. I could just picture Andrew attack all these bugs with a machine gun or flamethrower.

Mood: Entertained

20 Console Ads From 1977 - 1995

Just watched this hilarious video. Check it out.

Mood: Nostalgic

A Goofy Movie

Does anyone remember this movie? It had Goofy's son Max trying to impress a girl by telling her that his family vacation will actually be a trip to the Powerline concert where he will be on TV. It was pretty pimp. I used to have it somewhere but I can't find it so I'm trying to download it. I'm pretty sure it was from 1995 so I don't know how likely it is that I can download the whole thing, which sucks.

My Mood: cautiously optimistic

Webcomics are the funny?

I've been reading webcomics probably for about as long as I've had internet. Most people have heard of Penny Arcade and know how awesome it is. There are several other great webcomics out there too though.

2P Start is and excellent webcomic that is updated weekly. They only started last year but they are very funny. Most often the subject is Sonic, the Wii, Super Smash Bros Brawl, or Sonic.

Dualing Analogs is a comic that doesn't always hit the mark but every now and then has pure gold. Most worth checking out is the "Rejected MegaMan villians" comics in the archive.

Fanboys Online has probably one of the best individual comics I've ever seen. It's a Seinfeld comic where they are all playing Dungeons and Dragons. Hilarious! Some of the other ones aren't bad but they often are a little too weird.

Ctrl-Alt-Del lately has been my favourite webcomic. It's weird because you'd think the funniest ones would be the best ones but the current story arc is actually really sad. While there are still funny comics mixed in he has tackled a very sad issue absolutely excellently. It's just excellent writing. The issue I'm talking about is that one of his characters just had a miscarriage. You should definitely check out the comic. If you have the time to burn, starting from the beginning is an excellently wild ride.

Also just for fun check out Natalie Dee, her comics are so retarded they are great.

My mood: Laughterous?

GTTV

There is an excellent TV show on Spike TV at 1 am on Friday nights. This is a ridiculous time for a TV show but luckily you can watch it on the internet anytime after it initially airs. It's called GameTrailers TV and is all about upcoming games and exclusive interviews. I think it's pretty pimp. You can check it out at GameTrailers.com.

Also of note at GameTrailers is a cool section where they do "retrospectives". The just finished doing a series of retrospectives on Metal Gear. They have also done ones on The Legend of Zelda, Metroid, Mario Kart, and they are in the middle of doing a Star Wars one which is really cool. Basically its a cool site to watch video game trailers and movies.

Mood: Unexcited by the prospect of going to work soon.

The Incredible Hulk

I just watched a video review for the Incredible Hulk at IGN and it looks pretty cool. They gave it 4 stars. I really like what Marvel Studios did with Iron Man and I think that they would probably know best how to make a good movie about their characters. I know a lot of people didn't like the first HULK movie but I didn't think it was too bad. I'm also a pretty big fan of Edward Norton so I'm thinking The Incredible Hulk will be pretty pimp. I'm hoping to see it this weekend or next week maybe.

Mood: Intrigued

DRiP Investments

So I'm 21 now and if everything pans out alright then I'll probably have a future of some kind. I realize while I'm in school it might be a little to early to start thinking about retirement but from everything I've heard, the earlier you start saving, the better.

I've scoured the web and read several books about the best ways to save for retirement and I found a really unconventional method that I think would be an excellent strategy for me. It's called Dividend Re-investment and Share Purchase Plans. Most companies that are openly traded on the stock market pay out dividends to all share holders. These dividends are small amounts of money for every share you own and are paid out quarterly or monthly. It's important to mention that not all companies pay out dividends and that some don't pay them out regularly, often missing a month or quarter. However, there are a number of companies that have paid out dividends consistently for over 50 years! Even better, some of these companies have raised their dividends every year!

Some of these companies offer dividend re-investment and share purchase plans. If you enroll in this plan then instead of receiving a dividend cheque, your money is used to buy more shares in the company. Also, you can send a cheque in to buy more shares whenever you feel like it. This is called DRiPping or DRiP investing. The idea is that by sending money in every month or quarter and re-investing your dividends, by the time your ready to retire the dividends being paid out will be enough to live off of. Then you can cancel your Dividend Re-investment Plan and just get the cheques sent to your house.

If you want to read more about DRiP investing head to DRiPInvesting.org and read some of the articles and talk to people on the message boards.

Later on in the week I'll go over this some more.

Mood: Meh...

Friends S01E01

I just watched the very first episode of Friends. I don't think I've ever seen it before but I may have a long long time ago. It's weird that its on all the time and I watch it all the time but they never show the first episode. I don't think I've seen the last episode other than the time it first aired either. I wonder if they leave out ones like the first and last to give the illusion that the series is still ongoing or something...

Anywho, I'm going to watch all the episodes at some point this summer because I'm wondering if there are other gems that I've missed. Not right now though. It's too late and I didn't get enough sleep. If that damn dog wakes me up I might just kill it.

Mood: Sleepy with a hint of curiosity

Doesn't he have a mute button?!?

Lately I have been having a hard time enjoying my favourite bands. These bands include Blink 182, Angels and Airwaves and Plus 44. The reason I can't enjoy them lately is because my brother is too busy enjoying them. It's driving me insane! All day he plays the same riffs over and over again on his guitar. On the way to work and coming home from work he pops in an old blink mix CD that Gary made me when he first got a cd burner in like grade 8. He just listens to the same songs over and over again. He's also started to walk around with his new i-pod on and sing along to angels and airwaves. I swear I might kill him.

Mood: Murderous

Factory Work is the Lame!

I have had it with working in a factory. It sucks so much. Ok, maybe not all factories suck, i don't know, but the one I work for is horrible. I need to find a much better job that pays me good money. I shouldn't hate work this much. Its not cool.

Mood: Frustrated

Spore Creature Creator

If you have never heard of Spore than shame on you, but don't worry because come this September everyone will know about it. Basically Spore is a game from the creator of SimCity and The Sims, and its pretty much a sim everything. Starting from the primordial ooze you create the first single celled organism and then help it to evolve into a powerful space faring culture. The game is due out in September and is expected to be huge.

In order to get the hype going for the game EA and Maxis have release the Spore Creature Creator. Spore has several creators that allow you to design your single cell, your creature, your vehicles, buildings, spaceships and many other things. The idea is that you get to design all of the content for the game which is pretty pimp. The creature creator lets you design your creature by molding the spine and body, picking arms, legs, hands, feet, mouths, weapons and other accessories for your creature and then painting it to look like whatever you want.

When Spore comes out you will be able to take the creature you built and import it into the game to use. Basically everyone should go to Big Download and give it a shot because it is totally awesome. I haven't played with it too much and my skills are a few notches below "Mad" but I was still able to make some pretty cool creatures. Lots of fun to be had here.

Mood: Entertained

My Sisters Friggin Dog

My sister got this dog a couple weeks ago. She rescued it from a barn or something and it still smells like a barn. His name is Billy and he looks like a goat. I can't stand Billy because whenever I'm on afternoons(which is this week) Amanda brings him in here before she goes to work in the morning. He then eats things, chews on things, chews on himself and is generally a pest all morning until I finally get up. This dog is ruining any chance for a good night sleep.

The worst part is that the dog doesn't listen. We're supposed to praise him for doing good and ignore him for being bad. When we ignore him he just runs off and does more bad things though. I don't think he is capable of learning.

My mood: Tired and Pissed

My own blog?

I was randomly searching all over the internet looking at things like "how to make money online" and "get paid to take surveys" and other such junk, when I saw an ad that said you can get paid to write articles and stories online. Of course it turned out to be a scam which isn't that surprising but while I fantasized that it might be real I realized that writing articles, blog posts, and short stories might be fun. Also I thought that it would be good to write more often to increase my writing skills.

So here I am starting my own blog. I also thought it might be a better alternative to weekly e-mails that never seem to get sent out on time. I read many blogs, most about video games, and if I like this enough or turn out to be good at it maybe one day I might get a job working for those blogs. Here is a list of my favourite video game blogs:

Joystiq
Xbox 360 Fanboy
Wii Fanboy
Engadget

Take a look to see what I read pretty much every day on the internet.