Really fun game, and I still have some activities to complete, but the storyline is complete. The ending is a little weak, but they've left it open for a sequel. I won't spoil the ending, but it's out there if you want to look for it, or even ask me about it.
This game had some top notch voice talent at work. Lots of names you would recognize. It was a GTA clone, nobody will argue that, but it did improve on many of the problems that plagued GTA. The best addition was probably the waypoint system on the compass that helped guide you on where you needed to go. Very similar to the way navagation works in cars. Other additions include the ability customize your character. It's nuts how many options they give you. Mine looked like a cross between me and Turtle from Entourage. You could also pimp out any ride in the game, far more than you could in GTA. The shooting controls, were also vastly improved from Rockstar's games.
The side missions were very fun, ranging from racing, to stealing cars for a chop shop, to stealing hoes from pimps (called Snatch...get it, the double entedre...yea you got it) to my favorite, driving hoes around while they're in the back with a customer. Some of the funniest dialogue came from those missions. The issurance fraud (where you throw yourself in front of cars) missions were hilarious. Seeing my body bounce around in the air, Meet Joe Black style, always made me laugh.
The game was a bit buggy, hell I couldn't do the last few missions cause I had too many cars in my garage (yea, I don't get that corollary either). I also found numerous clipping issues, and a few times, I got stuck under the road after I was thrown from my car. Another time, my car got stuck in the road, similar to what a javelin looks like sticking out of the grass. Very weird.
I'll probably be there for the sequel when it's released. I had too much fun playing this not to. I mean, how can you not love a came that has a fast food restaurant named "Freckle Bitches".
Now I really should go back and finish San Andreas. I'm pretty sure I'm close to the end. It's a shame I didn't really see how the story played out.
Personally, I hope the Earth swallows both teams up. If I had to choose, I would go with the paperclips, mainly cause I think we can beat them at Kyle in November. That would put us going to Austin with 1 loss each to decide the South.
If you don't know what show I'm talking about, then maybe these pictures will help jog your memory.
That do anything for ya? ABC at 8:00 PM (pad the TIVO, it runs to like (9:02). Apparently alot of answers are revealed tonight. Some reviews say it's the best episode yet. I'm excited. Sadly, I'll have to tape my guilty pleasure which is now airing on at the same time.
...it was my iPod. I f'in left it in the desk drawer at work. I'm not really mad, but I'm not sure what else I would call it. No wonder I felt so weird riding the train home tonight. I was already on the DART before I realized what was wrong. I could actually hear. The train was making loud noises. I could hear people talking (loudly I might add). It took me a second to realize that they were just being louder than normal, I had no earphones on. I could actually hear whats going on in the world, and seriously, I don't wish that upon anyone.
It's funny how when you forget your watch, you feel naked without it, and now, everything else that day feels slightly off. I felt the same way. Very strange feeling. I'm not OCD or anything. Well maybe I have a very, very, very, very, very mild case of it. I'm just a habitual person by nature. I find myself doing the same routine every morning, or taking the same seat on the train ont he way home. It's just the way I am. Things become sort of like a tradition with me. That's the way I do things. (I'll let you make your own connection to A&M). It's not that I'm afraid of change or anything. Sometimes, change is good and you need to mix things up a bit. It's just that when I find something I like, or I know works, I tend to stick with it.
Anway. I do have my shuffle that I can use as a backup, but I've got to find some other headphones because my good ones are back at work. I dunno, it's only about 90 minutes that I'll have to be without them. I can handle that, can't I?
I know this post may seem a little random, but it's really not. I've been watching his new show on CBS "Smith" and I've been enjoying it. It's about a bunch of cons, with Liotta being the head guy who organizes the crew. Very similar to Heat. Personally, I'm a fan of Liotta. I've liked him since Goodfellas. Liked him in Unlawful Entry. He's a good bad guy. You can route (not like a highway, but like cheer for - I know, that doesn't look right) Well, last night, I finally watched the 2nd episode, and that's when I first noticed it. (Quick thanks to all the smart asses at DVD TALK).
Either he's been stung buy something, ala Martin Short in Pure Luck, or he's had some bad plastic surgery. Funny note, Burt Reynolds looked like Plastic on his guest role of My Name is Earl. He's looked like that for a long while though. Take a look. The top picture is from 2001. The picture on the bottom is from 2006. Almost looks like a different person.
I saw this Friday Night, and I damn I'm glad I did. I haven't laughed that hard in a long, long time. I laughed so hard, my stomach was a little sore. Yes it's that funny. Definetly worth the price of admission, late show, matinee, whatever. It's worth paying to see and it's even better if you bring some friends. Don't be afraid about seeing it in a crowded theater because I actually think it works better in a full theater. Laughter is infectious. I made me realize how much I missed the Jackass show when it was on tv. Some of the stunts they pulled on the tv show were hilarious. Lost Boys and whatever else followed soon after, just weren't the same. It's just sad that when TV gets a good idea, they quickly wear it out with imitators and copycat shows.
That's A&M's record versus tceh. A&M has lost 9 out of the last 12 times. It's getting rediculous. This last time, victory was snatched away with 26 seconds left, the equivalent of a last second game winning shot in basketball. Actually, I think it's eerily similar to the 3 pointer that LSU hit in the NCAA Tournament to knock us out. This was a 40 yard bomb by Grahm Harrel to Robert Johnson was so improbable, you can run the same play 9 more times and not complete one of them. Seriously, this ball was perfectly placed, and an amazing catch by woods with our FRESHMAN (bolded for emphasis) cornerback Jordan Peterson all over the reciever. Seriously, it was about as best as he could of played the ball, short of turning and looking for it. I put no blame on Peterson, I still think he's got a bright future here. I do put a little blame on Justin Warren, our SENIOR linebacker. According to our defensive coordinator, there was a max blitz on the play. If you watch this video you can see even the cornerback blitzes, but Warren just drops back into no man's land. If he blitzes, then I think we have a really good shot at either a sack, or a qb pressure, forcing him to throw early. Seriously, take a look at the video. You can see that the running back, Woods picked up the block on the cb, when the linebacker didn't show. What makes the loss even more frustrating is that we had 2 long time consuming drives to tie the game. That's basically the gameplan with a quick strike offense like tceh's. We chewed up the clock and got points. We even got the ball back and we ended up kicking a field goal to go up 27-24 with about 2 minutes left. Unfortunatley, that was too much time. There was also the slight euphoric "high" after Mark Dodge's interception. Sadly, the buzz was killed on the official review which overturned because the ball hit the ground before the catch.
The worst part of it is, that although I've started to become accustomed to losses lately, this loss pretty much ruined the rest of the college football games for me. I watched them, but this time it was with a certain numbness where I just couldn't get into them.
Now TexAgs is in overreaction mode, with people calling for the firing of our coach midseason. It's a pain to even go over there right now. Hopefully, it will clear up a little with a W at Kansas. Even that, according to some posters on the message board, will be hard to come by. Here's also a list that's been popping up alot lately in the "against" column of Coach Fran.
The following lists some of Fran's accomplishments in his four years as Head Coach at A&M.
1. 20-20 overall record
2. 11 losses of 20 or more points
3. Lost to every Big 12 team, except for KU/KSU, at least once
4. Lost to every Big 12 team, except for KU/KSU/Baylor, by at least 20 points
5. Overall Big 12 record: 10-14 with an average loss by 24.
6 points.6. Big 12 South record 5-10 with an average loss by 23.8 points.
7. Pass defense ranked 117th in the country in 2005
8. Our average loss is 22.5 points per game.
9. Barrick Nealy passed for 378 yards. In the other 8 games he's averaged 165 yards passing against I-AA competition in 2005
10. Paul Mosley rushed for a season high 133 yards. He's averaged 57 ypg the rest of the season in 2005
11. Joel Klatt passed for more yards in one quarter than any other QB inColorado history.
12. Allan Evridge threw for a career high 357 yards. He's averaged 129 ypg against the rest of the schedule.
13. First WR to ever catch 4 TD passes against A&M. (Todd Blythe)
14. Worst loss in A&M history. (77-0)
15. Worst loss to Tech in A&M history. (56-17)
16. Worst bowl loss in our history
17. First loss ever to Iowa State.
18. First losing season since 1982
19. First loss to Baylor since 1985
20. 3-12 record on the road
21. Of the five football games in the 125 years of Aggie footballhistory where our defense surrendered the most points, Fran owns three of them.
77 points to OU .............. FRAN
59 points to TT ............... FRAN
57 points to tu ................. Bellard
56 points to TT ................ FRAN (tie)
56 points to Ohio State ... Stallings (tie)
This is Franchione's career vs. teams that ended the season in the AP Top 25. His win over Texas Tech in 2004 is his only victory ever against a BCS conference team that ended the season ranked.
1992-1997 New Mexico 1-5
L #24 Fresno State 28-31
L #18 BYU 47-49
L #16 Colorado State 31-38
W #10 Utah 23-21
L #23 Texas Tech 7-34
L #17 Colorado State 13-41
1998-2000 TCU 1-0
W #13 Air Force 35-34
2001-2002 Alabama 0-6
L #13 South Carolina 36-37
L #4 Tennessee 24-35
L #7 LSU 21-35
L #5 Oklahoma 27-37
L #3 Georgia 25-27
L #14 Auburn 7-17
2003-2006 TAMU 2-12
W #21 Utah 28-26
L #19 Nebraska 12-48
L #3 Oklahoma 0-77
L #12 Texas 15-46
L #4 Utah 21-41
L #3 Oklahoma 35-42
W #18 Texas Tech 32-25
L #5 Texas 13-26
L #13 Tennessee 7-38
L #21 Clemson 24-25
L #20 Texas Tech 17-56
L #22 Oklahoma 30-36
L #1 Texas 29-40
L #25 Texas Tech 27-314-23
All-Time 1-18 vs. teams from BCS conferences
Doesn't look good for him. Baring some major upsets (where we come out on top) in the later half of this season, specifically in November, this is looking like the end for the Fran era at A&M. The question is, who can we get to replace him?
My wishlist
Gene Chizik - I would love to get this guy, but I'm not sure we can. Great defensive mind.
Butch Davis - I hear he's inline for the Arkansas job if and when they fire Houston Nutt.
Steve Craigthorpe - He's coached at A&M during which we had our greatest passing offense. Also, he's doing great things at Tulsa. Is he ready for the big time?
Tommy Tubberville - I doubt we can get him, but when we fired RC, he was rumored to be in the mix for the job. Plus, Auburn had almost shown him the door. Now, I don't think we can get him, especially after the past few seasons he's had. He's a god there now. Who knows, money talks. Maybe he's still pissed at his employers.
Mike Price - He's turning around UTEP, but rumor has it he doesn't have much of a defense. I would be in favor of this guy.
Bo Pelini - another great defensive mind. I wouldn't be mad about getting this guy.
Randy Shannon is the DC for the 'canes. I would love to get him as well, but I think he's the heir apparent to Larry Cocker.
Petrino just got a big extension from Louisville, so I would think he's out.
What we really need is the Billy Gillespie's of the football world. Who is that and where can we find him?
No seriosly, the roof was on fire at my jobsite on Friday, causing quite the stir in Dallas. Actually, it was the roof of the stair well. Apparently, the Arkansas roofers (no I'm not kidding) may have accidently (I would put that in quotes, but then you might think I'm implying something, and I'm not...or am I?) caught some of the plywood on the walls as they were torching the overlaps in the roofing sheets. The fire produced a thick black plume of smoke when the ashalt sheet underneath caught fire. It really made it look worse than it was.
There were 15 fire trucks present, I believe every channel had a crew on site. Even the spanish channel (not sure which one) wanted me for an interview. I, luckily, was busy taking the statements of the roofers. There were at least 3 news choppers as well as the police helicopter, who was circling very close and banking sharply directly above the building.
That was a pretty crazy way to end the week. I didn't make it home till about 9 PM, which pretty much ruined any chance I had of heading down for the tceh game. I ended up catching Jackass 2 instead.
The sprinkler pipes in the parking garage burst due to either too much pressure on the pipe (apparently, 2 fire pump trucks tried to plug into the system at the same time) or it was shady fittings. We're not quite sure yet. They worked over the weekend to get that system back up and running. Also, some drywall will have to be replaced, as well as some fixtures that got caught in the parking garage flooding. We also had some damage to the 2nd floor cabinets that we were storing down there.
....and Coach Fran finally has a winning record at A&M. 20-19. Wow. Took him 4 years, and what, 8 million dollars, but he finally got there. Guess scheduling this year was really looking out for him. But, "what's his record in the Big 12" you ask? Good question. 10-14. Let's hope that gets corrected this season. It will have to be, if we plan to reach the record I think we should.
On a much happier note. Stacy Reeves is a photo journalists (yes, apparently we still have those at A&M) for A&M. On her website, she takes some great shots of the A&M games. Here's the photos for the game versus La Tech. Great work Stacy. I've been checking out your photos since you first posted your website. My favorite is the Heisman-esque pose of Mike Goodson. Sure wish I could of used that one for my blog. EDIT: GUESS I CAN USE IT NOW. SOMEBODY PUT IT ON THEIR PHOTOBUCKET ACCOUNT. WAY TO GO TEXAGS.
Oh well. The spider lightning photo will have to do. EDIT: THE SPIDER LIGHTNING STAYS!
NOTE: From Stacy herself, please don't hotlink to her photos. (Hell, I'm not even sure how you would do that. I couldn't save them to my hard drive)
In other great news, Army beat Baylor in overtime. Baylorfans is in complete meltdown mode, and they are trying to get themselves withdrawn from D-1 football. I'm laughing my ass off. This week, tceh comes to town. God I hate tceh. F'in techerheads. I hope we kick tceh's ass.
Apparently I've been asleep for a while because during the summer, the people at LOST have started a game. By the end of the game, apparently you would know the secrets of the island and the origin of the numbers.
Well today's your lucky day. I know this blog is the 1st place you check the intraweb (you know, I 'm not even sure I know what that term means, but I'll use it anyway) for all the goings on, so here it is. (Yes, it's another YouTube video. Get over it. No I don't own stock in it.) Here's the You Tube video that has all the videos in one piece.
(again, a place holder till I can embed the video)
The Sci Fi website has a short article with all the necessary links on it.
Also, the Lost Experience Blog has all the glyphs (wtf?) and codes (I don't know this one either) down. This thread seems to summarize the whole thing pretty accurately. I've only glanced at it soo far.
Well, if you're like me, you just wanted to avoid the work and just get the answers. I mean seriously, I've got enough on my plate trying to keep up with other shows.
just walk your dumb ass into oncoming traffic. Seriously. Stop reading and kill yourself. The Office (and yes I'm talking about the US version) is the funniest show on television hands down. No arguements. Arrested Development is gone. Scrubs isn't back until early next year. How I Met Your Mother may be in the ballpark, but it's not quite there yet.
Last night was the Season 3 premier and if last night's episode is indicative of future quality, then we're going to be alright. Seriously, too many laugh out loud moments to count. So apparently, somebody has done me the favor of uploading it to YouTube. Enjoy. Try to stiffle the laughter while you watch this at work.
Since I have trouble copying and pasting the embed links on youtube, I'm only able to give you the link to the page. When I get home, I'll correct that.
Damnit. This is version 2 of this damn post since somehow, my last post got deleted. Fucking sucks to, cause it was kinda long (and I would say funny, but I don't know what you would say). Anyway, let's try this again.
On Sunday, they showed the pilot episodes to their most famous shows: Felicity, Buffy, Angel, Dawson's. There were suppossed to be old promos for the station as well as interviews, but I never saw any of those. It must of been the DFW affiliate's choice not to show them. Sad as I was most looking forward to that. I've seen all 4 of those shows before. Felicity I watched 2 years of, then really spotty the next (and last) 2. I saw Dawson's up until they graduated high school. Watched 1 or 2 episodes after that, but I had already missed soo much. I'll eventually finish them up on DVD someday. Buffy I watched most of, then finished with the DVD. It took me forever to finally get around to watching Season 7. Angel, I watched the 1st season of on tv. Then I couldn't keep up, so I'm starting over with the DVD set. I'm on disc 3 of the 1st Season. Scratch that. After this weekend, I'm on disc 4.
While this past Sunday was the final airing of The WB. It's not really going away, it's just being merged with UPN to form The CW, which basically means the channel for white teen dramas is being integrated with a channel made up mostly of black sitcoms. (Insert humorous segregation joke here) Many of The WB shows will be carried over, some were an eazy decision (Gilmore Girls), some weren't (One Tree Hill), some didn't make it (Everwood), and others came back from the dead (7th Heaven). Yes that pun was intentional.
Anway, the Youtube video is the last thing to play on The WB. The WB showed up around the time I was starting high school, so I kinda grew up with it. I watched both of the Nikki Cox shows, especially enjoying Unhappily Ever After as they paraded her around in mini skirts and tight tops. I watched 7th Heaven until they they wrote Mary off the show. I remember watching Popular. I watched Jack and Jill. I may have been one of the few that remember Zoe, Duncan, Jack and Jane, where I first saw Michael Rosenbaum, who later went on to play Lex Luther on Smallville. My younger brother and I saw Zach Morris make his comeback on Hyperion Bay. I saw a few episodes of Sabrina the Teenage Witch. Shit, I saw a few seasons of Charmed. I'm still watching Gilmore Girls. One Tree Hill is my guiltiest of pleasures. I'm trying to keep up with Supernatural, which I really enjoyed and is kinda creepy. I also am trying to keep up with Smallville, even though it pisses me off more often than not. I watched the full season of Jack and Bobby, and I kinda miss that one. I thought it was great. The Mountain was also another show, while not great at first, it turned into a sort of guilty pleasure. Roswell was another show I started out watching, but then lost track of. I would love to finish it up and see how it ended.
I had alot of fun watching these shows. What was funny is that I was one of the few people that could watch The WB because our town cable provider did not carry that station. We were lucky enough to have a c-band satellite system. I kept up with the shows, and then I would fill in Meredith and Tanya about Dawson's, while we were in Stu. Co, suppossedly working. Sometimes, Tonya would have family memebers send her tapes of the shows, but that didn't last too long.
What I'm probably most gratefull for, is that The WB gave these shows a chance to succeed. Nowadays, if a show isn't a hit right out of the gate, the networks cancel it. Many times, shows aren't given a chance to find an audience and succeed. Shows like Buffy and Angel, arguably the networks most popular and successful shows, would probably not have lived as if they had premiered on another network. I'm not sure what network would have picked up Dawson's or Felicity. I dunno, maybe ABC? Smallville? Supernatural? Maybe Fox would of found a spot for them. I dunno, but I do know that with Fox's track recored, they would of been quick to bring down the axe.
Anyway, I hope the new channel, The CW, gives new shows the same chance that it's ancestor would give them.
Anway, this week, the fall season really gets going. Yes I know Fox had premiered much of their new lineup already, but they have to cause in about a week, they broadcast nothing but baseball playoffs until November. I've watched Prison Break since it came back, and man have they really upped the unbelievable quotent. Still, a fun ride. This gets DVR'ed.
I'm eagerly anticipating Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip. If I knew nothing else about this show, this one get's a viewing based on Sorkin's name alone. But since I know a little more than that, I'm really excited about it. It's got a great cast: Amanda Peet, one of the guys from Wings (one of the brothers), Chandler from Friends, and Josh from West Wing. I think NBC has a hit on it's hands with this one. Reported price per episode is 2 million. At that price, it better be a hit. This one also gets DVR'ed.
I've set my vcr to record the CBS comedies. I really like How I Met Your Mother, and I'm soo glad it's back. Barney is hilarious and Robin is smokin hot in the "ordinary girl next door" sort of way. The class looks like it might be funny, plus Andrea Anders is on it. (Are they ever going to show the remaining episodes of Joey? I know it tanked, but damnit I wanna see how it ends!) I picked up The New Adventures of Old Christine over the summer. It was actually pretty good and I thought to my self tat I think it would survive the Seinfeld Curse. (Elaine ended up winning a Emmy!) I also enjoyed 2 1/2 Men, which I started watching this summer. Predictable, yes but worth a few laughs. I'll watch it if I have time.
Other new shows I'm wanting to check out: Smith and Jericho on CBS, Heroes, Friday Night Lights, Kidnapped, 30 Rock and 20 Good Years on NBC. Nothing new on on ABC or Fox. Lost, Scrubs, One Tree Hill, Gilmore Girls, Las Vegas, Simpsons, American Da, Family Guy, Desperate Housewives, Grey's Anatomy, Office, Earl, Smallville, Supernatural, and 24 will be watched when they come back. The O.C.? Maybe-maybe not. That seems like it's alot, and it might be. We'll see how long they all last.
This was a fantastic game and I highly recommend it to any and everyone. It's a must buy for anybody with a DS. It's a brand new game, not a remake or a port, but it's in the old school (or is it ol' skool?) side scrolling genre. It's got elements from all the previous SMB games.
On Monday, I finally beat the game on the train ride home. The last castle was a PAIN IN THE ASS, and it took me many tries to beat. Hell, the mini boss in World 8 was also a pain for me. I eventually got the best out of them. I'm now going back and getting the remaining star coins throughout the game and trying to figure out how to open up wolds 3 and 7.
Now, hopefully I can get back to Trauma Center and diffuse that damn bomb!
What a weekend. College Station was a blast. Great to see my friend Jason again. It's been too long and I will make a trip down to Houston. Sorry for all the shit we gave you for being in MENSA. ...and also for the spit ball. Thanks to Kyle for letting me crash at his place. For the love of god, please run the vacuum through. The "guest bathroom" also inspired me to never EVER let mine get that bad. Christ that was disgusting. Thanks to Steve and Kristina for driving and letting me ride. The trip down there and back was pretty quick, and that's cause we were having a great time in the car talking. We should do it again soon.
The game was excellent. Great game to watch at Kyle. The improvements really look excellent. The game was dominating from start to finish. I like the score 51-7. The horns lost, so that was great. UTEP gave tech all they could handle, and should of won that game. Still, a great night. Here's some highlights from the Aggie game.
Jordan Peterson's Hit (OUCH)
Joey Thomas' Catch (Great F'in Concentration - although it's hard to tell with the quality of the video)
Mike Goodson's Run (He's gonna be great)
A picture from my phone (damnit I need a real camera) of the Fightin' Texas Aggie Band! (Whoop!)
Now probably my favorite video. During the game, they showed the new Texas A&M's new recruiting ad campaign on the 12th Man TV. I thought it was a fantastic ad, a huge improvement over what we used to have. Here's a directlink to it off the Aggie Network web site.
Kyle Field got plenty of new improvements over the offseason. Here's a short video showing the new video board, the ribbon boards as well as the move of the "Welcome to Aggieland" to the Former Students side.
Now here's a link to download the new Intro. It's 60mb, and I haven't seen it up on You Tube yet. I'll embed it when I see it. Until then, "save as" and check them out.
A shot from the field. A shot of the 12th Man A shot of the Former Students
Ribbon boards, moving the "Welcome to Aggieland" sign, as well as some maroon on the 3rd deck facia. Looks great. Great changes. The video board looks clean, classy and smooth.
Now, here's the intro video for t.u. on their new video board. It seems during the intro, it was full screen (took up all the available screen). Near the end of the video, you can see the ads take over and video is relegated to only a small piece of the giant new board.
They new board had been nicknamed "Godzillatron" (obviously because of it's size). It's suppossed to be the largest HD screen in the world. Yup, they're clever up in Austin. Really rolls off the tongue doesn't it?
Here's a still pic.
Yea. More like Adzillatron.
Seriously, it looks like a freakin NASCAR. Can you get anymore ads on that thing? Oh, and how come you've got 2 4x3 screens side by side. Why isn't it widescreen? Why isn't it in HD?
Ribbon boards, moving the "Welcome to Aggieland" sign, as well as some maroon on the 3rd deck facia. Looks great. Great changes. The video board looks clean, classy and smooth.
