Subway, Dave Matthews Band CD, Next Gen Consoles

I went to Subway for lunch today. Megan had told me that they are doing away with stamps, and sure enough, they had a sign posted saying what discount you will get for giving up your stamps. In August, you will no longer be able to use them. That's pretty disappointing, because there was a stretch of college where I ate Pizza Subs almost exclusively. Also, they have switched to Coca-Cola products (at least in Waverly), so I can no longer enjoy a nice, cold Mountain Dew with my meal. Yes, they do have Mello Yello, but that's like Nintendo saying, "we've decided to adopt Crash Bandicoot as our new mascot, because he's so X-TREME and IN YOUR FACE!" The Crash games may be decent games, but you simply can't replace Mario.

Saturday, Megan and I went with my brother (Josh) and his girlfriend (Breanna) to Olive Garden and the Huntington Mall. Our waiter was your typical artsy stoner who will never rise above entry-level anything, anywhere. I bought some shirts for work at J.C. Penney, since most of my dress shirts are long-sleeved.

While we were waiting to be seated, Josh and I walked over to Best Buy so I could purchase Stand Up, the new DMB CD, as I mentioned last time. In my opinion, this CD is alright, but it is far from my favorite DMB release. In fact, I liked Everyday better, which is an album that many others list as one of their least favorites. This album is a strange amalgam of love songs and thinly-veiled political jabs at our current administration. Aside: Most people probably don't know this about me, but my general beliefs don't fall in line with those of most of my peers, nor the beliefs of some of my favorite musicians. It's hard to reconcile sometimes, so that's why you won't hear me talk politics very often. It's generally a waste of time; you won't convince me to change, and I can't convince you to change, so why argue about it all the time?

Anyway, I also bought the bargain-priced 80's gem, The Toy. If you don't know what the movie is about, here are the Tagline and Plot Summary from IMDB:

Tagline: When Jackie Gleason told his son he could have any present he wanted, he picked the most outrageous gift of all... Richard Pryor.

Summary: On one of his bratty son Eric's annual visits, the plutocrat U.S. Bates (Jackie Gleason) takes him to his department store and offers him anything in it as a gift. Eric chooses a black janitor (Richard Pryor) who has made him laugh with his antics. At first the man suffers many indignities as Eric's "toy", but gradually teaches the lonely boy what it is like to have and to be a friend.

You couldn't get away with a premise like that today, I would guess. An interesting note about this movie: the child star, Scott Schwartz somehow worked his way into the porn industry as a manager, then appeared in such hits as 1996's Scotty's X-Rated Adventure, and 1997's Dirty Bob's Xcellent Adventures 35 and 36. In a word, "Xcellent."

E3 coverage is coming in already, with pictures of all three next-generation systems hitting the Internet. Here's the general description: smaller, more horsepower, some curves (except Nintendo), more online features (damn you infernal dial-up service), wireless controllers, backwards compatibility, and the ability to stand on their sides. We'll see more details this week, I guess.

Friday the 13th and Other Nonsense

Today is Friday the 13th...nothing spectacular, really. Well, I guess that's all I have to say about that. How boring... See, now that I say that, the rest of my day will be all messed up.

Hey, remember that NES game A Boy and His Blob? I guess they're remaking it. Good luck to Majesco on that one. Nintendo should remake Kid Icarus, since they've been rejuvenating all their other classic NES franchises lately. Another game that should be remade (though I don't know how they could ever do it unless it stays 2D) is Taito's Bubble Bobble. Interesting...It looks like they are remaking Bubble Bobble for the Nintendo DS.

The new Dave Matthews Band album--Stand Up--is in stores now. I think I'm going to pick it up, since I've never actually purchased one of their CDs. Megan and I are going to one of their Germain Amphitheater shows this summer. Of course, since nothing ever goes the way it should, the tickets we purchased (all my fault, I know) fall on the same night (June 8) as Wily Mo Peña Bobblehead night in Cincinnati, so I've been trying to get someone to go in my stead to pick me up one.

This is the second time I've typed up this post (this time without links, because I'm going home), so I think I'm going to stop now. Maybe I'll edit the post and add links later. Maybe not though. Goodbye.

Gambling, Reds continued struggles, reviews

On Friday, April 29, Megan and I went up to the Tri-State Racetrack and Gaming Center, on I-64 between Huntington and Charleston. Of course I realize that the main objective of a casino (or "Racetrack and Gaming Center") is to put an uncrossable chasm between you and your money, so we went into the experience with a set amount of money, knowing that we will lose it all. On top of that, they only have Greyhound/simulcast Horse racing, Video Keno, and Slots, all of which can be considered sucker bets. The slots ranged from 5¢ to $5, which was funny because the so-called "High Roller" room was pretty small and only held $1 and $5 slot machines. In Las Vegas, High Roller slots are at least $100, but I would guess that they aren't allowed to have higher level gambling at a dog track such as this.

Anyway, we had dinner first, right down by the dog track area. We played the 5¢ slots, and on one of her first plays, Megan won around $6, so we immediately cashed that machine out...in nickels...and we had to wait for an attendant to re-fill the machine, since most people don't cash out 130 nickels to carry around. We played some quarter slots, then went to the "High Roller" room and played some of the $1 slots. This time, when Megan played $5 and won $10, we immediately played it and lost it on the next two spins. After that, we walked around the nickel slots a bit, dropping coins until our bucket was empty.

Deciding that we lost enough cash, we walked toward the shuttle to take us back to the hotel. The shuttle filled up quickly, and people were already standing up, so we decided to wait until the next one came by. Worst. Decision. Ever. We waited, and waited, and waited an hour or so, before the guy finally decides to quit taking his damned break. We tipped the guy on the way to the track, but we sure as hell didn't on the way back.

Moving on...I just don't know what to make of this Reds team. I'm now on the verge of considering the rest of the season dead, and just being entertained watching homers sail out of the park. This pitching is just atrocious. Should I just watch for Dunn's homeruns?

Bleh. On Saturday, we drove up to Da 'Nati to get some recall service performed on Megan's Lexus. Afterwards, we went down to Newport on the Levee to eat at Gameworks and catch a movie. The pizza at Gameworks is one of the best you will ever consume. We went to see The Interpreter, which was pretty good with strong performances from Nicole Kidman and Sean Penn, but the movie was a little slow in some places and a bit predictable in others. Really though, some movies have you guessing the plot the whole time, so it's actually somewhat refreshing to see a movie that doesn't end in some confusing mess.

I would like to go see The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, and I may just have to go see it alone, since I don't know anyone who will go see it with me. Also, coming up is the new Star Wars movie, Episode III and I feel that I will have trouble getting anyone to see that with me, as well. It's supposed to be great, from what I've read, considering it focuses on the Dark Side more.

Lately, I've been playing two games pretty much exclusively:


1. Tiger Woods 2005--I have plenty of games on my backlog, but every time I go to turn on a console, I find myself starting up the XBox to play this game. The only problem is that the game cheats. I play record-setting rounds on the real-world courses, but only win by a couple strokes because my handicap is so low. Then I play on their BS fantasy courses and get destroyed because the computer players are given scores that are actually impossible when playing the course. In fact, I generally lose while scoring the lowest round on these fantasy courses. Damn cheating game.


2. Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords--A long title for an extremely satisfying game experience. I know the reviews for the game have been somewhere between above average and below perfect, citing "more of the same," but I don't care. An excellent game experience is an excellent game experience. Really, this game has been more interesting than the movies (at least Episodes I and II), because you actually get to determine the flow of events. The game is far too long to ever be made into a movie, and I don't think you could easily translate the divergent Dark/Light paths onto the big screen. I'm playing this one through on the Light Side, since I was evil all the way through the first one.

Earlier today, I just happened to click on the "Next Blog" link in the upper right corner of my Blog, and I got this site. It makes my head hurt.

Enough for today. You are dismissed.