Fri, 17 Aug 2007 15:27:01
You may have noticed my absence…
...all three of you that read this blog. It’s been a tough week around here, and on top of that I just didn’t feel like blogging anything.
In the larger sense you may have noticed my political content dwindling away. I’m fed up, and how many times can I write the same thing? I hate reading blogs that repeat the same political crap day in and day out. Every story comes back to one of two boogey-men - Bush or Clinton. Sometimes it’s Rove or Pelosi. I’m so sick of it. I have a limited amount of “political capital” to spend before I need to get silly or look at boobs. These past few months it has been spent on Moore, health care and Cuba. Not to mention the fact that worrying about a presidential race this early has driven me, and most other people who are getting tired of it, insane.
I realize that there are some people who are obsessed with being angry at every perceived injustice by the government, they other side, people on their side and so forth. Some folks seem to have an infinite well of angst and bile from which to draw, and can turn any story into a political rant against whosoever it is they hate this month. I don’t. Besides, most of ‘em can’t think unless someone else tells them what opinion to have. If the “uberbloggers” and political rags stopped publishing tomorrow, half the political bloggers on the intertubes wouldn’t know what sock to put on first without direction. I’m fed up with it all. Right, left, center, you can all fuck off until next summer. I am out of caring, and the caring store is fresh out of refills.
I’d rather write 3000 bitterly sarcastic words about Bret Michaels than one more fucking blog post bemoaning the state of our Union. Because it’s a hell of a lot more fucking fun. Of course, you just know I will be bemoaning the state of our Union again...because I can’t help it. So everything I just wrote is total bullshit.
See, it’s my consistency that keeps you coming back. I just know it.
On the diet/weight loss front: Holding even. OK, truth is I re-gained almost a pound, which seems like it shouldn’t be measurable on a lump as big as me, but it’s reading the same every day, so...it must be there. I’ve actually stayed under 1700 calories a day on average this week, so it’s not the food intake. I’ve not been sleeping well at all due to a miscalculation in my BiPAP (a miscalculation I made), and this week it has caught up to me. I have been noticing that I am more and more physically exhausted both before and after a workout. This week it got to the point where I had to lighten up on what I was doing because I simply couldn’t move my arms. I wasn’t in pain, I was just completely exhausted. I’ve slept better the last couple of nights, and I will be going to the pool to try to do another quarter-mile this evening, so we’ll see if things have improved. Although I gotta say, I’m feeling both exhausted and dizzy right now, so...yeah, that means caffeine. Mmm...coffee. Only not this coffee, about which I will write tomorrow.
So anyway, I will make a bigger effort on all fronts next week. Let’s just call this a really shitty vacation. One where I didn’t go anywhere and no relaxation was accomplished at all. And I had to have my cell phone replaced again, as the front screen went dead. Again. Just like it did twice on the previous model I owned. Is LG making these things out of gossamer? What the fuck?
Oh! You know what I did accomplish? Shooting a -26 at Pebble Beach in three rounds. In Tiger Woods PGA Tour ‘07, of course. It’s not like I would actually walk a golf course and do that for real. That would involve both going somewhere and the day star, plus his cousin Fresh Air. We don’t do that here. Fresh air and sun are for boy scouts and migrant farm workers. We simulate. I swear to God, I will volunteer for the Matrix when the Robot Day Of Atonement comes. Anyway, that;s a pretty good score, I think. You may begin worshiping me whenever it is convenient for you.
Lastly...BIOSHOCK! Oh my GOD! Has a game every promised such a deep (no pun intended) story with such creep-tacular elements and cool retro-steampunk action? The answer, in case you are curious, is no. The demo is so awesome I can hardly contain my enthusiasm. I haven’t paid full price for any Xbox 360 game since Crackdown. I ordered Bioshock with no care for the price. It’s beautiful, fairly easy to control, has amazing amounts of creep factor, and to top it all off, seems to be telling a truly film-worthy story in a cinematic way that no other game to date has been able to pull off. I’m really interested in playing not just to see what weird and wonderful powers the plasmids will give me, but also to know what happens next in the story. I am really interested in this story. It’s basically the story of a man, sick of governments of all kinds, who attempts to create a libertarian paradise under the sea, only his ego and domineering ways turn it into a combination of a morality-free science experiment-plus-social free-for-all and a dictatorship. You, the player, come in as the last remnants of Rapture, the underwater city, are coming down around your ears and the citizens - what is left of them - have mutated into...something else. Much of the story is told in the details strewn around the world, like protest signs, newspapers, film clips that play on screens, etc. As someone who appreciates libertarian philosophy but believes that it must be limited or it will result in chaos, I’m looking forward to seeing where they take the story. It seems to have been written to my specifications, with some gross-factor, a high amount of creeping me out and a decent backbone of reality. Plus, did I mention it looks simply amazing? I can’t believe that I ever thought Gears of War looked good. Gears looks like a sixty-year old transvestite in a dirty chiffon skirt and a pair of torn leggings compared to Bioshock.
Recently Roger Ebert got into it with gamers, saying that video games couldn’t be art. Well fuck you, Roger. If no other game before it could truly own that label, Bioshock wears it deservedly. As Tycho from Penny Arcade said
It is my intention to secure two copies of the game, entire - one Collectors’ edition, and one exclusively to shove up Roger Ebert’s ass. If Bioshock isn’t “art,” then art is the poorer for it.
Preach on, brother.
Posted by JimK at 03:27 PM on August 17, 2007
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Categories: Entertainment, Gaming, Xbox 360, News, Politics, Personal, The Blogosphere
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Technorati: gaming politics blogging Bioshock
Comments:
#2 Posted by Rann Aridorn 
on 08/18 at 12:48 AM -
I dunno… I’m skeptical about bioshock… just because games that promise so much never deliver… ever.
That’s kind of silly. For one thing, much of what a game promises isn’t always on the developer/marketer side… a good deal of viewer hype goes into it too.
Also, I’ve played plenty of games that deliver just what they promise on the box… innovative and immersive experiences. Sure, played plenty of the other kind too, but eh.
Saying that no game that’s hyped up really big will be as good as it looks is exactly like saying no movie that’s hyped up really big will be as good as it looks. Because sometimes it is as good, even if sometimes it isn’t.
I mean, if your experience is that 100% of games with lots of promise are disappointing, maybe it’s not the games. I mean, the common denominator there WOULD seem to be you. Maybe you’re just setting your standards way too high.
on 08/18 at 02:03 AM - #4 Posted by Orpheus 
on 08/18 at 02:37 AM -
I don’t have an xbox360 (and won’t until someone chips it to run xbmc) so I’ll ignore that bit, but I’ll comment on the start of the post. More blogging! We like it. There’s too much bloody political crap already, so feel free to leave that alone, but I want to read about coffee and douchbags and all the other random crap that comes out of your mind. Plus the porn. We like the porn (even if you do get the occasional legal notice).
#5 Posted by Helo on 08/18 at 06:15 AM -
I’d rather write 3000 bitterly sarcastic words about Bret Michaels than one more fucking blog post bemoaning the state of our Union. Because it’s a hell of a lot more fucking fun. Of course, you just know I will be bemoaning the state of our Union again...because I can’t help it. So everything I just wrote is total bullshit.
I don’t want to say that I’ve given up on politics, but I’ve definitely lost a lot of interest in the subject. You’re right, either you hate Clinton, or you hate Bush. It’s downright annoying. I could care less about either one. I just want a president.
And let’s talk about the constitution. That seems to be a popular topic these days. I’m not saying it’s a bad thing, but I am saying that an old document probably needs to be updated every now and then. I’m not a constitutionalist and I can’t say that I fall back on the thing whenever possible. There are people who would rather die than give up any portion of the constitution, and others like me who care more about what brand of bottled water I drink.
To tell you the truth, I care more about shipping illegal aliens back to Mexico with their hearts and minds filled with fear of our border patrol that I do about Jose Padillas constitutional rights that were violated.
But that’s just me, and that’s why I don’t really talk about politics anymore. Oh yeah, and the fact that politics can cause an all-out blog war between friends doesn’t make me very happy either.
#6 Posted by Drumwaster on 08/18 at 10:36 AM -
I am saying that an old document probably needs to be updated every now and then.
I’d say that 27 formal changes over 231 years isn’t a bad average, but I agree.
Puts me in mind to make a blog post about politics… ;-)
#8 Posted by Toastrider on 08/18 at 07:46 PM -
My current PC won’t run BioShock.
Oh well, it’s five years old. Time for upgrades.
--TR
#9 Posted by Harley W Daugherty on 08/19 at 09:27 PM -
ill have to pick it up sooner or later.. right now im still playing galactic civilization’s 2
#10 Posted by Ryley R. Hayes on 08/22 at 03:12 AM -
[quoteThat’s kind of silly. For one thing, much of what a game promises isn’t always on the developer/marketer side… a good deal of viewer hype goes into it too.
Also, I’ve played plenty of games that deliver just what they promise on the box… innovative and immersive experiences. Sure, played plenty of the other kind too, but eh.
Saying that no game that’s hyped up really big will be as good as it looks is exactly like saying no movie that’s hyped up really big will be as good as it looks. Because sometimes it is as good, even if sometimes it isn’t.
I mean, if your experience is that 100% of games with lots of promise are disappointing, maybe it’s not the games. I mean, the common denominator there WOULD seem to be you. Maybe you’re just setting your standards way too high. ]
Perhaps I should rephrase. Any game where the developers go on about all the innovation and how the game will revolutionize certain things. The thing bioshock touts is the open-ended-ness and ability for the player to innovate. It seems to me that the genetic abilities are little more than extra weapons and power ups. The ability to create and use different kinds of ammo was done years ago with Resident Evil 3… and in a very similar manner so I’m told. The rest is just clever scripting and level design.
That doesn’t mean Bioshock won’t be fantastic game… Jim sure seems to be enjoying it, and I definitely want to pick it up. It’s not the fucking messiah of video games though… it’s not even anything new. It IS a very, very well done FPS.
#11 Posted by Ryley R. Hayes on 08/22 at 03:13 AM -
wtf happened to the quote…
#12 Posted by JimK on 08/22 at 04:09 AM -
It’s not the fucking messiah of video games though… it’s not even anything new. It IS a very, very well done FPS.
Ih absolutely. I agree it’s not the second coming. It is a well-scripted creep-out though, and the closest thing to a movie I can play that I’ve come across yet.
#13 Posted by cashin on 08/22 at 03:49 PM -
Battlestations midway is pretty incredible, very epic.
I also picked up Crackdown just because of the sheer hype JimK was giving it, let me just say i’ve played it virtually non-stop since I got it a few days ago. I shall never doubt you again Jim!
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I dunno… I’m skeptical about bioshock… just because games that promise so much never deliver… ever. That’s not to say it won’t be good… just that I don’t buy it will change gaming forever or anything like that.
Something tells me this extensive customization is going to be far thinner than advertised.
Personally, I think a little improvisation is good, But I’m more interested in someone solidly executing the game then reaching for the stars and failing.
A good example would be Ghost REcon ADvanced Warfighter 2, which I just beat last night. Exquisite game. Using a UAV to spot enemies behind cover, which puts a spot on your hud to shoot at, so you can hit them through walls with your sniper rifle… just fantastic.
Another cool game I just played was Battle Stations Midway. Steep learning curve, but a very fun, cinematic experience. The first time I got to fire a full salvo from a battleship was awesome. And flying the dive bombers is insanely fun.
Forza Motorsport 2… that’s a real fun one as well. The customization is fantastic. I bought a Nissan 350Z (best looking car out there for my money) and put the uber Skyline Nismo engine in it.
NCAA Football 2008 is also great if your into that thing. The “Campus Legend” mode, where you play as one player, was really well done. I’ve got a wide receiver going strong for the Heisman right now.
Completely off topic, do you think it’d be possible to put a login button in the comment area? Whenever I visit on someone elses computer I always struggle to find the tiny little login link.