I’m currently at a public hearing for a new development in the neighborhood. They’re going from 60 units to 160 units and every one of the current residents is going to have to be relocated by “relocation specialists”. They’re making things look like this: This is the definition of gentrification, is it not? And it passes. They now have a resolution. I didn’t hear a no in the entire bunch of commissioners. It has been approved with “several delightful conditions”.
1996 – The Year Alternative Rock Died a Messy, Forgettable Death
Some phenomenal hindsight of grunge, alternative rock, and how it became the very thing it stood against. I remember this year vividly. I was 15, at the height of my angst, and this caused me not only to re-live the period but it also provided a unique subtext I was completely oblivious to. On the radio, Goo Goo Dolls’ “Name” bled into Tonic’s “If You Could Only See” into Dishwalla’s “Counting Blue Cars” into The Verve Pipe’s “The Freshmen” into Matchbox Twenty’s “Push” in a watery bouillabaisse of quiet-loud-quiet song structures and sad-bro earnestness. This has to be the most…
Rock Paper Shotgun: Best Games Based On Books
Books! They’re like films without pictures, or games that are all cutscene. Old people and hipsters really like them, teenagers think they’re like totally lame, and quite frankly we should all read more of them. There are countless games inspired by books – most especially Tolkien, Lovecraft and early Dungeons & Dragon fiction – but surprisingly few games based directly on books. Even fewer good ones. Perhaps one of the reasons for that is that a game can, in theory, cleave closer to what a book does than a film can – with their length and their word counts, their…
Mirror: Help Anonymous Wipe Daesh (ISIS) From The Web – Instructions
Instructions for finding ISIS-related websites 1. Get Python at https://www.python.org/downloads/ unless you already have it (Mac does) 2. Open Terminal (or Command Prompt for Windows) and type (without quotes) “python” 3. Now, this step requires a little explanation. Let’s set this out neatly, shall we… Copy the contents of the following link to your clipboardhttps://ghostbin.com/paste/oo4tb The contents of that link are some search terms that relate to ISIS and their content, allowing you to narrow down the results to specific ones Paste the strings into the Terminal and press Enter 4. Choose a couple of strings (3 recommended) from the…
SyntheticX Gamleaon: Mad Max – With Commentary
MAD MAX – Cacophony This will be where I’ll have more to say.
Not Quite: Video Game Franchises That Just Need to Stop
13 Video Game Franchises That Just Need to Stop. There is maybe one or two one this list that I agree with. They then filled it in with other games that had consecutive titles. The author has no idea about some of these games and literally just pasted a general description, not actually mentioning why they’re in the list. COD should be on this list NFS should be on this list Assassins Creed should be on this list The reasons given however, are weak — so weak. I could write an entire article on each of them and where they…
Cyberlink MediaEspresso v7 is a CROCK!
JUNK! First I was unable to convert to h265 and then it can’t read my FRAPs recorded videos?!! For FSM sake, even Microsoft Movie Maker can read them. So lame. They call it “next gen” and “easy to use tool” Media Espresso v7 which is $39.99 “retail price” but it was so conveniently included with my $70 Cyberlink Power DVD v14.
When Next Gen Is Missing the Next
Detail, polygons, shaders… all very important. What I find most important are textures. Artistic and accurate textures can bring life to anything, even simplistic character models and environments. Water looking good — that’s a decent feat, trees with individual leaves, fire, rain, all these things are important little details — like the flipflops flipping in GTA V. They add to the immersion and life of a game. I can not fathom how these next gen consoles are coming out and not supporting 1080p across the board. It seems ludicrous that it wouldn’t be the driving force. My 4 year old…
Movie Review: Flight
Hubris. It describes the protagonist, the antagonist, the obstacle and the resolution. Ok – so maybe not the resolution. I was not a fan of the secular point of view, primarily because I could identify with it. I’m familiar with the perspective. The perspective of someone receiving religious comments, even advice. I felt those words as if they were directly to me. They collided inside my head from both sides with a metallic clang, and then to the floor with another. Catharsis is thick, and since that’s one of the only English words I remember… it must be it. “A…
LA Times – Boehner: Time for Senate to get to work and stop sequester
http://touch.latimes.com/#section/-1/article/p2p-74581703/
Video: I Miss Bad Company 2! BC2 Gameplay/Commentary
I agree with several of the points he makes in this video. Jungle setting, destructible buildings… those points are primarily level based. The games take place in different environments entirely. You may not be able to take down a whole block in BF3, and there’s not so much fighting going on in jungles right now, and BF3 is all about what’s happening “now”. I would like to see more stationary machine guns, there really is something great about taking down a heli with machine gun fire and it would be strategic since they’re not often worried about the ground fire,…
Stop With the Online!
You’ve read this article before, and you’ve probably experienced some level of frustration at the hands of copy protection at some point, be it music, movies, or games. I don’t know what you’ve been up to either, if you haven’t. This subject is fresh in my mind, and I chose to revisit it because Ubisoft ruined my afternoon. I only get a small window to game with children sometimes, and that window was just wasted in an attempt to play what is among the worst games ever made.
>Rockstar fails to see the forrest…
>Rockstar apparently wanted their little foot in the online pool. GTA IV for PC may be exclusive to XBOX Live (Windows) but since they have it all centralized via their Rockstar Social Club – it all depends on their servers having the stones to support everyone logging in at once. I guess they didn’t expect such a rush. I called support:Wait, you called before?No… I don’t think so.Yeah, for PS3 – not showing 1080p.Oh yeah, yeah I did.So why’d you buy it for the PC too? I had it for PS3, I wasn’t going to go buy it for PC…
>"a slogan among New Yorkers"
>The USS NY was christened yesterday and I saw an article on MSN about it that angered me. So matter of factly they state that the bow hull is made from scrap steel that was salvaged from the World Trade Center and what’s emblazoned where. It was the statement about: “Never Forget” – which is “a slogan among New Yorkers” that really flustered me. Among New Yorkers?!! They were attacking AMERICA, it was an attack on everyone that happened to happen in NY. Now I may be inclined to forgive who wrote this since it’s an AP wire, but I…
>BitComet
>It’s been a long time since I needed to download something I couldn’t find on a web page, and I guess that’s why I’ve stayed away from Torrents. I am digging through my pile of older games now and after trying Gothic 3 again (yes, it did the same stuttering crap – guess it’s not compatible with the 7950GX2) I tried Aliens VS Predator 2.I had the CD along with the insert that has the serial key. Apparently there is also a disk 2, as I was prompted for it when I got about halfway through the install. I checked…
>SLi x 3
>I think I’m done with computer gaming. I just don’t have the money to do it well. I invested for the monitor – and it’s served me well, but I just can’t believe what NVidia just announced – SLi x 3. I have 3 major problems with this: 1.) Cost – If you want 3 8800 GTX Ultra cards you are spending 3 x $700, that’s $3000 just on video cards. I’ve never been one for building a $5000 PC, and this is hands down the way to do it. 2.) Space – Who has room for 3 oversized, extra…
>Altruistic
>al·tru·is·tic [al-troo-is-tik] Pronunciation Key – Show IPA Pronunciation–adjective1. unselfishly concerned for or devoted to the welfare of others (opposed to egoistic).2. Animal Behavior. of or pertaining to behavior by an animal that may be to its disadvantage but that benefits others of its kind, often its close relatives.[Origin: 1850–55; altru(ism) + -istic] —Related formsal·tru·is·ti·cal·ly, adverb —Synonyms 1. charitable, generous, philanthropic; benevolent, unselfish.—Antonyms 1. self-centered, selfish, mean.
>Can LOLCATS be explained? Nope.
>Check out this really amusing article attempting to explain LOLCATS.You can’t do it, more importantly – no one should try.
>Studio 60 "The Disaster Show"
>I was going to do a whole write up and comment about the 1st of the last 5 Studio 60 episodes. It is a rerun next week so I was fully expecting this to be the last one. I thought they pieced together what they had shot. It seemed like half a show. Check out the post below for more, I added my comments:Studio 60 Talkaloo