I just found out that my favorite video game of all time... the 7th Guest... is going to become a trilogy. That's right, they're making The 7th Guest III, so like... the 9th Guest. Or... the 12th... Hour.... er... not. While my initial reaction was joy that someone else out there remembers this game... shortly thereafter came aprehension. See, my second favorite game was Myst. They made Myst into a trilogy as well. Riven, the sequel, was great, as was Exile, the third installment. But just recently, someone decided, "Hey, how about Myst 4?" So they came up with Uru. But in today's Halo infested, 1PS or MMORPG (First Person Shooter or Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game for you non super-dorks) world, there is no room for the quality Myst-esque adventure games that require... what was that thing that video games used to need... man, it was a while ago... I can't seem to remember... oh yeah, "thought." So Myst went the way of Sierra's "King's Quest." Remember King's Quest? A little bit of a relic, but still required some of that thought that players used to need. They were the best selling games out there. They're fan base was loyal, even if the newest craze was big flashy guns and level twelve orc beasts with a ruby shield and an attack that requires 8EXP and 12MP to summon the monster Astaroath who uses a fire attack spell that poisons every member of the party and puts your enemy to sleep while draining them of 5HP every turn. But so many people buy the latter that they get nervous when it's their turn to develop a game because it looks like everyone is into not thinking. What they fail to realize is that more people buy video games than they see. The Sims taught us all that. The Sims is the best selling video game ever. Why? Because it's being bought by people who don't normally buy video games. It's found a "new" crowd, that isn't really new at all. It's the people who like video games, but require something unique, unlike "Racing Game" or "Fighting Game" or "Shooting Game" (all of which don't even deserve their own title. Halo is Unreal is Wolfenstein is Doom is Half-Life is Quake is Duke Nukem is XIII is Deus Ex is No One Lives Forever is Counter-Strike is Serious Sam, they just all have different looking guns. Same with Racing Game or Fighting Game.) It's the people who buy games no one else is interested in, because nothing blows up. That demographic is huge. Look at Myst. Myst was the biggerst seller ever in its day. Find me one video gamer that has ever finished it. Find me someone who doesn't say, "I played it for like twenty minutes and couldn't do anything, so I quit." Yet, it was the best selling game ever. How is that possible? It's because Myst's core audience aren't videogamers. Same with King's Quest. The people who played King's Quest weren't into comic books and ninja fights, they were into real books and that weird late 80's early 90's art that had people wearing burrets and looking sad. And yet, the people at Sierra got nervous that the market was changing. King's Quest VIII came out, and it was a third person action game, (a la Tomb Raider). And lo and behold, it sucked balls. Why? Because they didn't dance with the girl who drove them to the prom. They strayed from what got them where they were and tried to be hip and it was bonking Anna Nichole. (slang for "F*%#ing Stupid). No King's Quest fan wanted a third person shooter, and no video gamer wanted a King's Quest game. And there was never a King's Quest IX. Same with Myst. They strayed. Uru is crap. I was all happy when it was coming out, but I've played it now. It is crap. It's no longer first person, it's now third. The controls on it make you want to kick your computer down a flight of stairs. Suddenly it's not just you. Uru is a MMORPG. That's right, you can get on-line and hang out in Uru and complain together about how dissapointed you are.

I didn't realize I had this much to say.

At any rate, all I wanted to get on here was that I'm nervous for Guest 3. Although, I gotta say, I've seen the trailer... no shooting, no third person, no online... no mansion, but that's okay, it's supposed to be set in some museum. I'm a little excited, but, things change...

Oh.

What do you know. Publishers are scared to put it out.

"According to Rob Landeros there are still a couple of parties interested in the Collector. The game is 'not dead yet'. But since it's hard to publish an adventure game it might change into a more action-oriented game for the console market."

Bastards.___

I hate video games.

All I have to say is that chroma-keys f%$#ing rule.

I have but one enemy in this world. One arch-nemesis. And its name is Five-Thirty AM. Today, my adversary and I did battle, and the battle was fierce. The Alarm Clock, its blood red eyes, red as the fires of hell, stared upon me in the night, waiting for its moment to strike. And when the time came, strike it did, swift and terrible. Alas, while the battle with Alarm Clock was short, it was only then that the devilish Five-Thirty AM made its prescence known, as it beat down upon me with the ferociousness of lions. I lost consciousness, dropped into a weakened state, unable to combat my enemy, and in this state, exactly nine minutes later, Alarm Clock made its second attack. Weary, beaten, I lunged at Alarm Clock, and in the confusing darkness, smote him. Five-Thirty AM was still here, its arms around me, squeezing all the enegry and life from my cold weak body. It surrounded me in the darkness, I inhaled it and choked, I stood upon it with weary legs, ready to succumb to its malicious attack at any moment. But lo, I would not surrender. I would not fail or falter, as I stood my ground and fought off Five-Thirty AM's grip with every fiber of my being. And, lo, I came out victorious over mine enemy, though the war has left me weakened, and not without casualty. My clear mind and cheerful demeanor hath fallen upon the sword of the cursed beast and were lost to me. But, friends, this will be a day to remember. The day when one man refused to back down. When one man fought the battle of his lifetime against an invisible assailant, and when the war was over, stood over his rival in victory. This is the day where it was most certainly proven that there is no man taller than the last man standing. This is the day whe -- aw screw it, I'm going back to bed.

It's getting close to time for me to switch email addresses again. Yahoo is starting to suck. I have two addresses there. Daedalus55@yahoo.com and TheCoughingDog@yahoo.com . Daedalus is the one I use the most frequently, the other no one knows about and I have not checked in three weeks. Today I logged on to TheCoughingDog and had 637 unread messages. All junk mail, not one piece of real mail in there. I have at least 10 new messages everyday in Daedalus, and occasionally one of those are real. Time to move on.

When are you gonna come down? When are you gonna learn? I should've stayed on the farm, I should've listened to my old man.

Less than four weeks to go. Here's hoping.

I just had a thought.

I found a website that I think is brilliant. It's an apology to the RIAA for the piracy of music in the form of mp3's off of Napster and KaZaa and other such file sharing services. If you don't want to click on the link, I'll just explain it to you. Basically, people are sending back the mp3's they stole. They're emailing mo3's to the RIAA, they're taking the hex code that the mp3's are written in and printing them out (which will take up several hundred sheets of paper) and mailing or faxing them to the RIAA.

I think it's wonderful.

So it's about that time of year again that I talk about piracy. I think I've covered this topic back during the Napster vs. Metallica thing, but I'd like to talk about it again.

I've downloaded mp3's, and I'm not sorry.

If you're going to charge me $17.99 for a CD that has one good song on it, you're going to make the same amount of profit as if I just download it. Nothing. I'm not going to buy your crappy-ass CD anyway, what do you care if I download it and then play your song for a friend and HE goes out and buys your crappy-ass CD? You're getting free advertising for anyone who comes over to my house while my playlist is going.

"But Joe," Lars says, "With file sharing, you'll never buy another CD, and then I won't be able to afford my yacht AND my seventh Rolls Royce! I'll have to pick only one. ONLY ONE!" Yeah, well bite me, Lars. Some of us have to actually WORK for a thousandth of what you make a year. Next time I turn on Cribs and 50 Cent doesn't yet own a copy of Scarface to play on the Drive-In Movie Theater Screen in his backyard, I'll shed a small tear and go buy his album.

And I've seen the anti-piracy ads on television. The ones that say, "You aren't just robbing the artist [term "artist" used loosely in cases of Metallica and other crappy-ass bands who come out with the same lame ass songs about how they are in so much pain and they suffer and hot girls want them, but they just hurt too much (yes I'm talking to you, Creed. You too Puff Daddy, P. Diddy, Piff Sniffy, whatever your name is now, Biggie's been dead for a while now)] but when you pirate mp3's, you're ripping off the mixers, the producers, all the little people who work so hard to create this CD."

I don't doubt these people work hard. I'm sure they do. That sucks if they get paid a commision on how many copies of Mariah Carey's "Glitter" get sold. But I don't think they do. I'm pretty sure they're paid everything up front before the CD even drops. So if I download music, their paycheck is indifferent, because they got it months ago.

Even if that isn't true, here's a thought. Why doesn't the artist pay them more? Seeing as these people are directly responsible for getting the CD to its distributors and then to the public, they are very important to the process. The artists owe us thanks for buying their crappy-ass album, but they owe those people more for allowing us to have the chance to buy their crappy-ass album. So instead of putting a $11,000 61" wide/flat screen plasma screen television in every room of your house so you never miss the Lakers game, instead of buying five cars when it's only possible to drive one at a tiime, instead of buying a giant grand piano when you don't even know how to play, instead of having your own private airport at your house, why don't you cut the guys who produce your CD or Movie a little bit bigger of a check? That way your greedy ass won't need to worry so much about me and my mp3 of Enter Sandman, because everyone wins.

By the way I just bought GnR's "Appetite for Destruction," the new Guster album "Keep It Together," and the soundtrack to Moulin Rouge. Before buying them, I had downloaded at least three tracks from each. Why buy them? By downloading them I had determined that they were, in fact, not crappy-ass albums. So you want people to buy CDs, make better CDs. And quit bitching that people are stealing from you. Robin Hood stole from rich people and gave to poor people, Napster stole the $0.17 your rich ass would have made off of me buying your album, and gave my poor ass one of your songs. We're not going to feel bad for you.

Now for a fun game. Count the times I used the word "ass" in this post.

My response to Sarah Hatter's question about the Cold Shoulder.



I found this site through Jon who made a comment a few spaces down. Allow me to explain the "Cold Shoulder" as someone who gave it not even twelve hours ago, and kind of feels bad about it.

At least in my case, it's something simple that sets it off. There was this girl that I've seen a few times in the last few months. We just run into each other occasionally and talk for a while. She's really nice, but the more we talk, the more I realize she's not really my type. To date at least. She's a good friend, and really funny, and cool to talk to. But she's a girl, I'm a guy, we're twenty-something, so we lightly flirt occasionally. It's more funny than anything. Then one she tells me she likes me... and suddenly everything is awkward. I kind of explain to her that I think she's cool, but she's not exactly what I'm looking for... in a much nicer way than I just wrote it... and we're cool.

Last night I was a the bar and she showed up. We hung out and talked like we used to, but then I turn back to her and she's giving me that look. You know that look.

So I sat there in silence watching the guy playing open mic for about another two minutes, and then I left. I basically didn't know what else to do.

I'm not saying, Sarah, that you're not this guy's type. I don't know. It could be anything. Just that the "Cold Shoulder" can be because some male freaks out at the thought of actually hooking up with someone, but to be more specific, because what they thought was harmless flirting suddenly got serious, and they didn't want it to.

Although it happens both ways. I've been on the other end of it many more times. Where you think everything is going great and then suddenly it all crashes. So has Jon, more than I. And his are pretty painful.

This is a long comment.

Sorry.

I hope everything works out for you though. Good luck.
jp | 11.21.03 - 8:19 am | #

I watched WWE Wrestling last monday and Lita became single. Now is my chance.

Ok, so she's not really single... but shut up, it's my dream.

Elderly Woman Behind the Counter in a Small Town

I seem to recognize your face
haunting, familiar, yet I can't seem to place it
cannot find the candle of thought to light your name
lifetimes are catching up with me.

all these changes taking place
I wish I'd seen the place
but no ones ever taken me

hearts and thoughts they fade, fade away...

I swear I recognize your breath
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising
me you wouldn't recall for I'm not my former
it's hard when you're stuck upon the shelf.

I changed by not changing at all
small town predicts my fate
perhaps that's what no one wants to see

I just want to scream "Hello"
My god it's been so long, never dreamed you'd return
but now here you are and here I am
hearts and thoughts they fade away

hearts and thoughts they fade, fade away...

My thoughts at 4:28am.


JoFish19: I wonder what it's like to be schizophrenic. Or have multiple personality disorder.

JoFish19: I mean, do you just imagine there is another person in your head talking to you.

JoFish19: Do you see this other person?

JoFish19: Do you become this other person?

JoFish19: And when you become this other person, do you realize it's not you talking?

JoFish19: If you were schizophrenic I mean.

JoFish19: Do you realize that if you have MPD, that there are more than one of you in your head?

JoFish19: I wonder if there are cases where the two or more identities know of each other and cases where they don't.

JoFish19: And I wonder if you can convince yourself that you don't have MPD, just an overactive imagination.

JoFish19: And can one personality shut the other out so that the first can not see what is happening.

JoFish19: And if so...

JoFish19: How can someone with MPD know which personality is really them?

JoFish19: If they were somehow cured, and all their personalities left except for one, would it be the true personality of the person, or simply the one that survived?

JoFish19: I mean, lets say I had MPD, and I've had it since I was two. And all this time, since I was two, my second personality was the one that was in control of my mind. And then one day, my original personality resurfaced and had witnessed everything, and wanted his mind back. But the original personality was a total asshole. Should I give up this mind, seeing as it is truly his and I am just a figment of his imagination, or do I have the right to stake a claim in this mind as I have developed it for the last 21 years, and he's only been in control for two?

Dolphi2413: lol woah i dunno


Leave a comment, let me know what you think.

"...I'll call you beautiful, if I call at all....."

New comments thing is up, leave one.

One more night, two more movies, five more seconds.

The Twelve Page Paper website should be up soon.

I want to be someone who effortlessly spells favorite "favourite." I think it would make me feel more unique. But if I started, I'd have to think about it everytime, and would then feel like I'm lying to everyone.

Something I need to say about the Matrix Revolutions that will not give any of it away. After watching it for the second time, I noticed something. What follows is a typical conversation in Zion.

"Commander! The Machines are about to breach the Dock Wall!"

"Goddammit! Get the gunners to their posts! I want every barrel aimed at the point of entry!"

"Sir, we've got ten minutes and we don't have a goddamn EMP to fire."

"Where is Niobe and her goddamn ship!? Those goddamn machines are going to rip this city apart!"

"There's still no goddamn response from the Logos sir. Nothing from the goddamn Hammer, or the goddamn Nebuchadnezzar!"

"Goddammit! Where are our goddamn reinforcements!"

"Sir! We're out of goddamn coffee!"

"Goddammit son! Some goddamn low life drank all our goddamn coffee!? Goddamn shame! We can't have our goddamn gunners being goddamn drowsy, can we?!"

"Goddamn no, sir. Goddamn no."

Look for it. When you see the movie, bring a fifth of Jager. Take a drink everytime they say "Goddamn." They'll have to carry you out of the theater.

Six Weeks. I need to finish the film in six weeks.

Tenative Release Date: December 19, 2003.

Whoa! Madonna is kissing Britney! Quick! Cut to Justin Timberlake!!

yeah, you're fired.


Anyway. Matrix 3 is tonight. I'm excited. Hopefully it's good. Speaking of, I gotta call Rob. I gotta organize. I hate organizing. I need a secretary. A hot secretary.

later.

Rotoscoping pt. 2.

two days

twelve and a half hours total

way of the gun, mitchell, spaceballs, can't hardly wait, manos: the hands of fate, blair witch 2...

ten seconds done. ninety-one and a half to go.

after looking at those finished ten seconds, it's well worth it.