I think Hendrix could definitely be lumped in the Guitar Geek list.  He was ragingly experimental in his play style.  He picked lefty by just flipping a regularly strung guitar over.  It hurts my head to even consider that!  Granted some of his experimentalism should be attributed to LSD (lighting his guitar on fire or any of the humping/stroking footage) but when you watch the old footage of him playing, the movement isn't just b/c he's high as a kite.  You can see him feeling for the right place in the sound field thrown by his monitor and stack to get just the effect for which he's looking.  Compare what your average gig guitar player has at their feet now vs what Hendrix had on stage, then compare sound and style and tell me Hendrix wasn't a world-class guitar geek.

Personally, I liked the yelling through his guitar pickups while he picked with his teeth.  That is the weirdest damn noise ever.

I watched this special on Hendrix where Eric Clapton (maybe it wasn't Clapton) asserted that Hendrix's performance at Monterey raised the bar so high for other musicians of his time that Brian Wilson (of Beach Boys fame)--who was trying to pull himself out a spiralling depression due to hitting a creative brick wall--got back in bed for a year b/c he thought he could never be as innovative....but Brian Wilson was a whole different bag full of crazy.

Tulac, on Oct 19 2006, 05:22 AM, said:

Spot on, Tulac.  SRV is just...Well he's SRV.  I think Hendrix would have given us more over time.  There's no doubt they both played the guitar with a virtuosity and passion that few will ever equal and perhaps none will surpass.  No disrespect intended to the other guitarists listed here, but I suspect every single Petrucci, Mustaine, Van Halen, etc can trace their style and influences through SRV and Hendrix right back to very blues and jazz that first inspired Stevie and Jimi.

I have to go listen to some music at a high volume.  Hurray for working at home!

Some of my favorites have already been posted.  This is what I get for not paying attention.  A few more,

Shoot everything!  You can always pick up more ammunition that will certainly fit the firearm you're currently wielding.

Don't shoot ANYTHING!  There are only ten rounds for your firearm in the WHOLE DAMN WORLD and it's the sole weakness of the last boss.  Instead, use this cardboard tube.


Bah...meeting.  I'll have to add more on the edit...

I don't have a link yet but the guy in front of me at KMFDM's show last saturday was bootlegging the whole thing on his camcorder/camera device.  Security was viciously booting people left, right and center yet somehow this guy never got caught....once I find the link, I'll post.

Link notwithstanding, better than last year's performance (same venue).  Probably the best set they could put together covering favorites from way back to their most recent album.  My only regret is that KMFDM never plays MDFMK material (which I rather enjoyed) for legal (and probably philosophical) reasons.

Phenomenal live performance.  Totally worth three hours of crap beforehand.  Incidentally, the sheer number of hot (and alterna-hot) women at KMFDM (and the like) shows never ceases to amaze me.  The only genuinely creepy moment was when this drunken guy staggered up to me and my buddy, slurred something unintelligble while pointing at my chest and then dragged his shirt down (yikes!) to reveal a tatoo of the Cobra emblem from GI Joe.  That's the sort of strange crap that happens to me when I wear my Crimson Guard Tee in public.  


should have worn my Div shirt....

Japofran, on Oct 10 2006, 08:02 AM, said:

Agreed.  The Belgians certainly make many fine beers.

Juni Ori, on Oct 10 2006, 10:45 AM, said:

Agreed.  Amending my previous statement, also worth considering are pranks and practical jokes arising from rivalries.  In my case, it was the guys living across the street.  However, the same certainly holds true of rival teams, schools, companies, etc.  As you said, there's a line crossed when something is done to someone else in malice...

RyGuy, on Oct 9 2006, 08:47 PM, said:

I started to type a reply but got lost in a tribes flashback.  When I was an undergrad, we turned the English Dept computer lab into a tribes lan den almost every night one summer.  One of the joys of attending a small school was that almost EVERYBODY cleared out during the summer.  Once the campus security guys knew we weren't ACTUALLY shooting at each other, they were cool with it, and somewhat intrigued.  I think I still have master keys to that campus floating around somewhere....

Ah wasted youth....

Blood-Pigggy, on Oct 9 2006, 05:54 PM, said:

I think perhaps some people are missing the point here....the element of physical torture is disturbing.  Then again, I was in a fraternity that didn't beat their pledges so maybe I just missed the element of corporal punishment/physical abuse that is assumed to occur in fraternal orders.  

In my experience it's more about jerking somebody's chain.  In order for it to be taken as a joke and not you being a psychopath, you should 1) know the person well enough to know what they'll take in stride and what they'll decide is assault and 2) not set out to cause bodily injury.

Most of the pranks of which I've been a part were far more sophomoric.  I'll just hit a few high spots...

Dousing people coming in the front door with ice water.  From the roof (3 stories up).  In winter.  We're talking 50 (US) gallons at a go.

Kidnapping housemates and leaving them miles from home....in Southwest Va.  This is basically the middle of nowhere.

Flipping breakers randomly on and off in the house during finals weeks.

Sneaking into the house (college owned) across the street and coating the radiators in fish bait (nasty, smelly crap that gets nastier and smellier when heated).

Watering down water with vodka (this occurred so many times that it's only worth mentioning b/c the same guy fell for it repeatedly).

Ah, foot loose and fancy free youth.  Good times....

Juni Ori, on Oct 9 2006, 01:33 AM, said:

I'll have to go a'lookin' but I'm relatively sure that regulation in the US relates to percentage of alcohol contained.  All sorts of different euphemisms are used.  If you see phrases like "Barley Wine" or "High Gravity" it means "as much alcohol as three Budweisers and a good flavor to go with it."

Most people crap on US domestic brew but I've found quite a few micro brewers produce an excellent product.  Even large microbrewers like Sam Adams make a damn fine beer--and are still considered a microbrewery.

This is not to say all microbrews are good brews.  I'll go out on a limb and say I've had more good than bad.  There are two or three in my town that make some very tasty products.  I'd recommend anything coming out of Sweetwater or Brooklyn (not in New York) Brewery.




Fun beer fact: Did you know Portland, Oregon is home of more microbreweries than Bavaria, Germany?  Apparently, they take that *crapola* seriously in the PacNW.

taikara, on Oct 6 2006, 04:02 PM, said:

Many good beers imported into the US must, to meet stupid laws, be classified as barley wine.  I'm pretty sure it's due to the percentage of alcohol being significantly higher than the amount allowed in domestic beer.

So, at least according to US law, you do partake of "wine."

A question I was pondering during my commute this morning.  I didn't want to inject something so blatantly topic destroying into the other Anime thread so I started this one.  There seemed to be the beginnings of a what counts and what doesn't as anime definition and I just wanted to fan that into a full discussion.  So anything animated that comes out of Japan?  Specific subject matter?  What are the defining characteristics?

So why not just call it "Reloaded" and be done with it as was previously suggested?  That would indicate very plainly the intent of this community to have an identity separate from Abandonia.  Or am I wrong in assuming that being recognized without reference to Abandonia is a goal?  Perhaps I should just take the advice of Kula Shaker (courtesy of my iPod's most evil "random" feature) and simply "Hush."

I saw no choice for bourbon so I had to pick the next closest color.

I blame Macross for starting it all.  In truth, I saw it as it was named in the US, Robotech.  The single best hour of TV ever was Robotech followed by Voltron (not the lame-*money-maker* one with the cars).  My god, it was full of stars.....

Then there was Akira.  Tom's totally spot on.  Utterly overrated.  It gave me a headache.  It's giving me one right now.  Local sushi bar in my village shows it and Macross (un-Americanified) in more or less a constant loop.

Ninja Scroll.  Wow.  A Whole Lot Of Blood.  Oh.  And Asians That Jump Too Damn High.  Personally, I'd like to be the demon that could stitch himself back together b/c that'd be so much fun at parties....or anywhere really.

Record of Lodoss War.  The first anime series I saw from bow to stern.  Probably the only one I've ever enjoyed all the way through as well.

Ranma 1/2.  Friends in school introduced me to this one (independently of each other I might add).  I hate, hate, HATED it at the time but over the years have come to accept and, dare I say, enjoy it--in moments of weakness.  I sympathize with Gendo; it's a physical similarity thing--to the panda.  Me and pandas.  We're right there.  Where?  Right there.  Moving on....

Dragonball (and all the various letters trailing it).  Same story as Ranma 1/2.  But no water activated pandas.  Which is really a disadvantage.

Vampire Hunter D.  I want a sentient demon hand that keeps me alive/in line.  As long as it's not the same hand that I'm cutting off at parties.  That'd be like ditching your designated driver.

Neon Genesis Evangelion.  Started out so great.  Pissed me off so much by the end.  Dovetailed into a strange place in my life which just made the whole episode all the weirder.  Normally, I'm into Giant Robot Fighting all the weird character subplots just freaked me out.

Macross/Macross Plus/etc etc.  Giant Robot Fighting just works for me.  And unlike NG:E, no creepy lolita vibe.  Hurray for consenting adults!


Cowboy. Bebop.  FULL STOP.  I love Cowboy Bebop.  I have the music.  I don't own music from anime.  The last episode they showed on Cartoon Network was bitter sweet for me like the last episode of Firefly on DVD.  It was like my best friend moved away or my dog died.  So many good memories but never anything else.


I've gone into a bit of a dry spell.  I should find something else.  Any recommendations given my giant fighting robot issue/obssession?  I'm going to have to get the Voltron Collector DVD thing.  

I just noticed I put this all down more or less in chronological order.  Yay recall!

I null voted this one.  Why does someone else's opinion matter if you really don't have any ethical doubts with regard to cheating?  Another way of saying it: if you feel the need to poll the rest of us, perhaps you do have an ethical dilemma and additionally, difficulty coming to terms with it.  Staring the prospect of failure in the face is incredibly difficult, but I think I'm a better person for doing it--whether I suceed or fail.  I know without a doubt that I've learned more from failure than success.  So from my perspective, by cheating you deprive yourself of the opportunity to learn something about yourself and improve yourself.  

I've long since decided every person walks their own path with regard to ethical standards so please don't misconstrue my commentary as judgement.

I can't be the only forum member who saw it.  This may be one of the best episodes of South Park I've seen in a long, long time.  The episode raises some interesting questions for me that I'd like to share and hopefuly spark some thoughtful debate:

1) Is videogame addiction different than any other sort of addiction (other than perceptually)?

2) Can you be addicted to MMOs and not single-player, disconnected games?

3) If you play MMOs (or videogames in general) do you, as the South Park episode said repeatedly, have no life (assumably they mean no life beyond gaming)?


Granted these seem like really basic questions that don't require much thought or exposition to answer.  If you think something is missing, post in-thread and I'll edit my post to add them.  What I'm really hoping for is honest discussion amongst gamers about gaming.  Also, if you haven't seen the episode in question, are interested and unable to view in your area, I'd recommend youtube.

http://www.gamespot....ws/6158912.html


This could be really great or really awful.  Too bad the details are pretty scant.  I grew up as a huge marvel fanboy so this pushes all the right buttons for me.  Crossover with comics in print is a pretty interesting concept as well (even though Cryptic and NCSoft did that already with COH).  Guess we'll just have to wait for more details to shake out.  I really hope they spend some time creating a destinctive visual feel like Blizzard did instead of going for the photorealistic visual sterility of EQ2.

They've got the right team in place and decent platforms on which to build it.  Can't wait to see the final product.

I'd be a dwarf.  Let's run down the reasons shall we:

Irritable?  Check.
Stubborn?  Check.
Handy?  Check.
Misanthropic?  Check.
Drunken?  Check.
Occassionally disorderly? Check.
Blustering and Loud?  Check and Check.

There are issues of phyiscal similarity as well.  

Huh....talk about your revelatory moments....

1) X Com (Sorry, that's just how I always remember it)
2) Star Control 2 (I need more landers!)
3) Knights of the Old Republic (crashes and all)
4) Guitar Hero (rumored to be coming to an XBox 360 near you; I'll take mine in black)
5) World of Warcraft (I don't have a problem; I can quit any time I want)


Five is too few.  I think I have at least a top 50.  Some of them are utter cheese.  For instance, I may be the only person on earth who enjoyed Karnov on the NES.  Fire breathing Russian strong man kills dragons?!  Film at 11.


Edit:  The rumors appear to be true:
http://www.eurogamer...rticle_id=68140

Looks like I'll be purchasing an XBox360 now....I can't decide if that's good or bad.

Tulac, on Sep 16 2006, 05:23 AM, said:

This is precisely what MS did to modded XBoxen a couple years back.  If you used Live (which was optional at that point), the updated dashboard looked for the modchip and then banned your Live account...which is tied to the SN of the Xbox.  So if you wanted to get your Live info back, you had to plug in and register a clean Xbox.  

Hacking the hardware was still a pretty big deal at the time but expected b/c MS more or less just yanked parts off the shelf for the XBox.  XBox360 is a custom built platform.  That hackers were able to break through MS's considerable engineering efforts in about a year from the paper launch of the product is very impressive.  I suspect that a quick dashboard update in concert with a couple of C&D letters to sites and vendors offering the mod hardware will send this whole scene back underground.

Juni Ori, on Sep 10 2006, 10:42 AM, said:

That's just....

Damn.

As far nature's mistakes?  The fossil record is full of them.  What we know of the evolutionary mechanism tells us that trial and error on a massive scale leads to...well oil amongst other things--but more importantly, very diverse, very adaptable, very hardy (within certain conditions) forms of life.

Moogle, on Sep 9 2006, 09:41 PM, said:

Was trying to decide whether I wanted to full out reply or just edit my first post....guess which I picked.

I quoted Moogle b/c I totally agree with the sentiment expressed that stripping out most of the blatant gadget pr0n and ridiculously over the top product placement will really, really increase the quality of the storytelling.

I'm something of a Bond junkie.  I've read Fleming's original books and formed my own image of Bond in my head.  I've appreciated each of the four actors' take thus far on Bond and look forward to Craig's take as well.  I think each of them capture a different bit of the super spy Fleming wrote from his little retreat in Jamaica fifty years ago.  

Connery played Bond with a sense of timing and delivery that was superb even if some of the movies weren't so great.  Lazenby, while wildly unpopular, played Bond as a married man (even if for only a moment at the end) and wore a kilt.  Moore, in the earlier movies, brought a sense of lethality and professionalism to role.  However, campy scripts like Moonraker should have never gotten the green light.  Dalton's performances as Bond were really enjoyable for me.  I didn't like his take on Bond in social situations, but in the action/spycraft bits he totally had me.  The movies he was in also were the first where the "Bond girl" really began to become an equal.  Benecio Del Toro (yay!) got to play a scary, cool drug dealer.  And of course, Wayne Newton revealed himself to be the world's biggest pimp (and not in that Jay-Z good way).  Brosnan (who was originally going to take the role after Moore but had to bow out when his wife was diagnosed with cancer) had some really fantastic moments.  Goldeneye may be the best Bond movie ever made b/c in refreshing the cast (Judy Dench as M might be the best casting decision since Desmond Llewelyn), the inner workings of MI-6 are revealed.  Sean Bean as rogue 00 turned super villian brings me back to that one over and over and over.  Unfortunately, Brosnan's tenure also resulted in some of the WORST Bond movies ever.  Worse than Never Say Never Again.  Michelle Yeoh is the only reason to see Tomorrow Never Dies.  Over-the-top product placement (more like grandstanding), Terry Hatcher's wooden, ridiculous performance and the absolute stupidity of the villian's plans and reasons to create globabl unrest just left me with a bad taste in my mouth.  The World Is Not Enough (why did you take that role, Robert Carlisle, WHY?) and Die Another Day just continue the trend of suckage.  

Die Another Day should be deleted from movie history.  I'm inventing a time machine specifically so I can go back and make sure that movie is never made.  I despise it so that I created a new paragraph to highlight the sentiment.  Oh, and Halle Berry sucks.  She may have done some other good work but she's awful in this movie.

So what will Daniel Craig bring to the table?  Well, I'm hoping a sense of realism.  Craig as Bond just getting his feet wet (not even 00 yet) is extremely appealing.  It's reminiscent of Fleming's early Bond: a post wwII naval officer who showed a talent during his service for accomplishing difficult assignments.  He's not the super suave Roger Moore type.  This was a guy who uses a standard issue  wrist watch as brass knuckles--perhaps the beginnings of gadget pr0n?  In the trailer, we learn that the only reason Bond is given the assignment is b/c he's reputed to be the best card player in the service--more of a scoundrel than a gentleman.  Certainly not the super spy of the Moore era.  More of an adaptable, clever thug (for lack of a better word).

So do I have a point?  No, not really, other than I look forward to this movie being a potential clean slate for Bond fans.  Think Batman Begins after several awful Batman films (I hate you Joel Schumacher).  Or a theoretical sequel to Highlander that isn't a complete piece of crap (go on, tell me which one wasn't a total piece of crap; i'll wait).

My personal favorites?  From Russia With Love and Goldeneye are a deadlock for me.  Hopefully Casino Royale will make the cut.

Nice!  Congratulations to all involved in such a positive outcome.


Never felt so good to be so wrong...

I'm convinced.