divinelybereft

This is perhaps the most hilarious "news" story I have ever seen.

No wonder Penny Arcade made a comic about it recently. I followed their link to watch the video and... you just have to watch it. I LOST COUNT of how many things I thought were stupid. It is just really funny. Wait she teleports out of the TV. I almost started laughing out loud over the sound effects.

And they keep calling it the SEX BOX. HAHAHAHAHA

http://www.kdvr.com/videobeta/watch/?watch=8dd7f487-7d6e-457b-82db-a95e5673e301&src=front

I think the thing I found most funny was this... I am paraphrasing...

"Behind all the death and destruction, lurks a very real danger."

OMJESUS

Lisa, someone in the crossover fan fic livejournal community that is still part of my friend's page for some reason wrote a story primarily about Star Scream and Skyfire.

http://community.livejournal.com/fractal_mirrors/83851.html

I have not read it. Apparently things attack Star Scream.

My arms feel heavy. My head feels full. Ow.

So I'm still sick. I managed to prop myself in front of the WoW machine and play through some groups last night. Bartholror had his happy group leading moment last night. He was pleasant, curteous, helpful, and patient. It probably won't happen again, but for once, the grumpy dwarf might have brought smiles instead of frowns to the faces who play WoW.

I am sick. Soar throat. Feel like crap.

I am going to go home early at lunch time and just rest. By rest I mean not work.

Internet ads are abhorrent, by the way. I thought I would point that out. Who are they aimed at? The people who would respond to these ads are people I wouldn't even want to see on the street! Why would you want them as customers????

Obama wants moms to go back to school???? Pre-school???? Fuck you stupid ads.

Well Star Trek Online releases and begins on 2/2/10.

I have gone through many phases of interest and disinterest with this game.

I like MMOs.

I love Star Trek.

I love games.

I did not love City of Heroes gameplay, but then I also didn't play very long as a result of the initial missions.

I am unsure of how much I trust Cryptic's ability to deliver.

So, after reading some closed beta experiences and development blogs about the game, and seeing some videos (more on those in a little bit) I've decided I want to try it.

I'm going to pre-order a copy from Gamestop so I can get into the beta on January 11th. Now, perhaps I can get into the beta without pre-ordering... and if that is so, I won't pre-order it. But the main thing is that I am going to try the game. I mean, I was always going to try the game, but with meager expectations in the past. Why did I have meager expectations? Star Trek is a delicate thing. To really make trek happen, you have to come from the right perspective as a writer, director, cast, and producer. Trek in games has been like this... "well, they've got lasor guns, so let's shoot shit with them and play the music!" and you know, I have to say, Voyager Elite Force (both 1 and 2) had enough "quiet reflection time" moments to ALMOST get near a trek experience... at least Voyager trek anyway. Which is far from Next Generation. Still, I enjoyed those games because they attempted to tell Trek stories. Now the only other Star Trek game that felt like Star Trek to me, that I can remember, was Star Trek The Next Generation for the Sega Genesis. Yeah. Other games have been released with Star Trek in the title that I have liked playing, but have not necessarily made me feel the same way I do when I watch Star Trek. Star Trek to me, at least, is about feeling excited about everything and wanting to explore. That's it, in essence. What's out there? Where can we go? What will we learn. When it is done right, that's the feeling you get overall. When it is done wrong, it's like, this is a science fiction story and we are sure to see an alien soon. I wonder HOW they will shoot it. Phasers? Photons? Beaming a bomb into it's body? That might sound fun to some, but it's not Star Trek to me. Well... back to the new game... Star Trek Online. Every trailer I've seen released has displayed impressive looking starship battles or not as impressive looking phaser fights between players on away team missions. Yeah. Oh, and also things explode a lot. So, to me, the ads say this... "Come play Star Trek online! You can shoot things a lot and then they explode." That wasn't working for me. But I read some things about the gameplay... one person said there was a diplomatic mission type where they felt heroic, for once, in an MMO and they didn't shoot anything or blow anything up... so that piqued my interest. I'm going give Star Trek Online a try mostly to see if they are going to offer gameplay like that. I'm sure I'll be shooting things, as I have yet to see a Trek game that doesn't require you to kill something with a phaser, but I hope I'll also get to pretend that my character isn't a bloodthirsty soldier with no regard for other lifeforms.

That all being said... recently Cryptic released an "Exploration" trailer for the game... instead of "Ship Combat" or "Away Team Gameplay." So I watched it on mute because I am at work... it shows ships flying around... some people walking on an ice world (did you like the new movie? the game is like that! look! ice world! lol) and then... BOOM BANG explosions and shooting again! Exploring with guns!

Anyways, I should be playing in the beta by next Monday... so I will keep you all informed once I make it so.

So last night I pretty much played WoW all night. The dungeon finder is the best. Even when people repeatedly flake out in one instance, it isn't hard to find non-flakey replacements, even after several tries. I just feel bad for the non-flakes because typically several bosses have been downed by the time they get a chance to join the group, but hey, I've been a late addition too and I just appreciate the chance to beat up some elite mobs.

At the earlier levels, you inevitably end up with Wailing Caverns as your random instance. This is the instance that tests flakiness and even non-flake resolve. The instance takes 1 hour 30 min minimum, just to get the completion and achievement. Now, I am a completist and I would love to kill every elite mob in every random dungeon I enter... not that most groups want to do that... but I do. Still, even just cutting through the parts we need, people seem to have this weird impatience with almost every dungeon.

Why is this? My reasons for going to instances are experience, random loot, group gameplay (when it is fun), and lastly loot from bosses. With the dungeon finder, you inevitably end up running the same dungeons over and over while you level, so the boss loot will eventually show up or you will outlevel it before you get it. Dungeons are way easier than they used to be, so you there's no gear check to completing them... so people who are there to get the boss loot, at least a lower levels, and nothing else boggle me. WHY QUEUE UP AT ALL if you don't like doing dungeons?

Now, if I want to hang in there to help a group finish but I have to go soon, I might encourage speed over completion... but I don't fucking whine about it and flake out.

That's my gaming rant of the day.

Too Long Didn't Read version:

If you want to play in dungeons, WANT to play in dungeons. Otherwise go sologrind. Low level dungeons are about experience, group gameplay, and lastly loot.

Anyone else have an opinion about this?

Well I read that Downtown Blacksburg is conducting a survey and they want input on downtown businesses. I saw this on the website of a local newspaper. I was pretty excited to contribute. I thought I could suggest a video game retailer or a thrift store or a used book store. Well, no. The idiots think a PHARMACY is what is needed downtown. They think a pharmacy will contribute to the revitalization of Downtown Blacksburg.

What?

Do they think sickly and/or elderly people are wandering the streets of downtown lamenting the lack of a pharmacy?

This kind of shit makes me want to actually deal with political bullshit and run for town council... my slogan... Because you need someone who is not a fuckhead!

First thing I would do is review every fucking thing they are about to decide on and buy a box of pens to cross out 120% of it. That's right, I'd take a pen to their blank sheets of paper and just cross the whole page out preemptively. Done. Fixed. Time for new ideas.

Sigh.

If you want to contribute to the survey... here you go...

https://survey.vt.edu/survey/entry.jsp?id=1259637415066

Ok and yeah, I know the Merchants of Professional Marketplace Dealers of Downtown Mercantile Farmer's Blanket and Sheepherders Anonymous is not actually part of the Blacksburg town council... but still.

Update:

I just found out that they removed some questions due to redundancy, but I found them in an old version...

Would you promise to hold dear a pharmacy in downtown Blacksburg?

In sickness?

In health?

Would you want to have children with said pharmacy?

Would these jeans make a pharmacy in downtown Blacksburg look fat?

Be honest?

You asshole.

What about a store that just sold designer scrubs for young doctors and nurses in Downtown Blacksburg?

Even if they had cartoon kittens and impressionistic dogs?

Snoopy?

What about a podiatrist in Downtown Blacksburg?

We paid someone $2,000 to come up with the idea of a pharmacy in Downtown Blacksburg. How does that make you feel?

We were thinking of putting in a dick-in-the-ass station, so you are all lucky. Rate this idea on a scale of one to ten, ten being worse than a pharmacy and one being medium rare.

The class that's graduating today all contributed some money to me and I received a card with $88 from them in appreciation of my efforts at my job... which was unprecedented and very gracious. I am excited to blow it on soda and candy or toys and games.

I love my new NASA coffee mug. I take it to work every day.

Unrelated to work...

Hmmm... Lisa introduced me to this show called Better Off Ted which is on the ABC channel. For the first 10 min I was kind of put off by it, but I warmed up to it during the last 10 min a lot and I'd like to watch more before they update Hulu and remove the older episodes. If you like traditionally filmed (not like The Office-mentary) office sitcoms, it has some pretty funny moments.

Well I haven't talked to Lisa yet, but we might be able to play Arkham Horror Thursday night, if E and M are up for it. I will update this post when I find out whether I am forgetting something we have planned. This weekend might also work, but again, I need to see. I have been excited to try to teach you guys how to play, but we'll see how well we both remember whenever we do come over.

So I bought Call of Duty 4: 2 or as the kids call it Modern Warfare 2 for Christmas. Actually, Lisa and I both have a copy, but she's going to play it more later.

I, however, played it almost non-stop this last weekend. It's megafun in a very boy oriented sort of way. I mean, it's also a good game in that it actually looks beautiful, even when you are in a level designed to look like a scummy part of town, and the gameplay is smooth and I haven't noticed any bugs, and the controls are super responsive. It's not even laggy while Lisa plays WoW and I use Skype, which is something Halo would have pooped a log over. Look, that phrase was the only way I could accurately describe Halo's network performance. Just defriend me if you don't like accuracy! But back to being boy oriented... when you were a boy child, if you ever were, you spent a lot of time imitating the sound of guns and explosions. Even though 80s cartoons were rife with lasers instead of actual guns, you pretty much knew to make your GI Joe dudes make gun sounds. Why do I mention this? Well playing Modern Warfare 2 reminds me of playing with GI Joe figures as a kid. Very fantastical gunplay and explosions with little consequences of any note. I am of course solely referring to the multplayer version of the game here, since I haven't started the single player campaign yet. If my description doesn't sound fun to you, the game probably won't be fun. However, if you can see past the facade of "Modern Warfare" what you have is a playground of strategic FPS decision making. You start out being able to pick from a variety of gun types in the form of classes, but then you can start picking the exact gun you want to use by making a custom class. Then, as you use that gun more, you eventually unlock addons which really change the whole feel of the gameplay. I mean, using the same gun with the red dot scope versus the slightly more zoomed view of the ACOG scope was like playing a different game. I guess that's what I am trying to get at... yes you shoot people, but... 1) those people are probably douchebags, 2) setting up sentry guns and controlling missile strikes and flying gun platforms in an FPS is ALWAYS FUN

Basically the gameplay wants you to think it is harsh war simulator, but it is really just an elaborate game of tag. That's all FPS games ever are. They all just have different rules. This one has lots of different game modes, lots of different toys, and it works well. I see this dominating the 360 FPS crowd for a long while. Poor Bad Company 2. Maybe people will get tired of COD42 as I call it sooner than I think. I've only been playing it one weekend, but I am still excited about it.

Well I don't update livejournal with a lot of personal stuff normally but I just feel like rambling a little. I stayed up late last night playing wow and I feel really tired today at work. It's really not good. I can't bring myself to turn on the other light in the office. I can't even make myself get up to make a coffee. Not just because I am tired but because I ran out of creamer. I really like my new mug. I got a mug that has the NASA logo on it. I am a big fan of space and space exploration, if you didn't know. I would love for ALL of my tax dollars to go to NASA, actually. What a weird country we would live in if we could decide the budget by assigning our tax money to things we wanted to support. I think it would be fun, until the roads collapsed. But I mean, each new tax year people would have a chance to change their minds, so the roads would get funded eventually. Wouldn't it be fun to write in something? Elmo Department, where they research new ways to create a REAL biologically working Elmo? I don't know if that's funny to you but it's funny to me, at least as tired as I am it is.

Anyways, I like space exploration. I think all the science necessary for it is fascinating. I am confused as to why more people aren't excited about space exploration. Maybe it is a common misconception (induced purposefully, I think) that space is lifeless (conclusively), empty, and worst of all, boring and useless. This is totally not so. While certainly have not explored EVERY EVERY THING on earth, science can only benefit from a wider palette of observations, one which could be obtained from space exploration (and extraterrestrial exploration, to be clear [as in other planets and moons])

One of my major gripes with Avatar was... "Unobtainium" however it is spelled... I thought, oh my god that's blunt force writing. "Wecantgetitanywhereelsium" would have been just as effective a writing device and not sacrificed any of the believability, I thought, sarcastically... well, so I found out that that's a term that is actually used to refer to compounds, substances, devices, alloys, whatever, that are needed but currently... unobtainable. So now I'm just... annoyed with the world? I think I still would have liked for them to make up some fake element for the screenplay though... like Regelium? I don't know, just not something like "Difficultium"

Otherwise I really like Avatar. I saw a post on Massively.com about how Avatar's art direction/world looked similar to a lot of MMOs and how some people think James Cameron ripped off video games to make the movie, and how some people say no, he wrote the movie and drew sketches 7 years ago.

Well I don't know about all that... but ever since I saw the trailer for the movie, I got the feeling I saw it before. I don't mean it reminds me of something, but I feel like I've seen this exact movie before. It kind of still freaks me out. Even though I didn't know what would happen in the movie, it felt REALLY familiar as I watched it. I don't think it is a ripoff of video games or anything like that, but I feel like it is similar to something, I just don't know what.

On another note about Avatar, Lisa and I bought two of the toys and I think we are going to try out the webcam interactive reality part that they come with soon. If anyone is interested I will post my thoughts about it after we check it out. Basically they have these tags that you display to your webcam while a program runs on your computer. It shows you holding the tag and moving it around, and on the tag stands a 3D figure like the one you bought, but it is animated and you can make it move around and press virtual buttons on the tag (stickers in real life, but the webcam sees you press them and it activates part of the software)

Hey Emily or Mallory, do you have Fallout 3 for PC? I would love to borrow it (not to play it much, just to demo it to see if I want it for Christmas) for like a day or two if you do.

I know you mentioned playing it but I don't remember whether you said you had it for PC or not.

Thanks.

Hunter kills student and injures another while they look for frogs for biology class.
http://www.roanoke.com/news/roanoke/wb/226754

This is the problem with hunting in general. And both groups were hunting.

So they found out that they misdiagnosed this "coma" patient as being in a vegetative state for 23 yeas... he was just majorly paralyzed... he was fully conscious...

read on...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/nov/23/man-trapped-coma-23-years

The conclusions of a few of the experts, that somewhere around 40% of coma patients might be misdiagnosed is terrifying. A lot of these people, when they are misdiagnosed, might fall under the legal care of people who have the option of pulling the plug... and it is possible that they are not unconscious at all...

Level 12 Tauren Warrior

Exploring: Still in Mulgore

Accomplishments: Made it to Far Watch Post and Crossroads, but hearthstoned back to Mulgore to finish quests.  Made some pants, bracers, and an axe that he cannot use yet.

Goals:  Journey to the weapon master in Orgrimmar to learn how to use his axe.  Complete quests for the lazy people of Crossroads.

Dungeon Alert:  Wumpus is ready for Ragefire Chasm.

Wumpus is a Tauren Warrior on Wyrmrest Accord.

He is a blacksmith/miner and he is now level 11.

Exploring: Mulgore

His goals:  Make own pants, weapons, and other coverings out of metals dug from the ground.  Soon.

His accomplishments so far:  Near genocidal encounter with Quilboars in Mulgore.  Honored with Tauren.  First aid, cooking at apprentice level

Most hated enemy: Harpy
Most hated by: Harpies

Using: Two-Handed Mace

Motto: Eat more two-handed mace!

We are playing Arkham Horror right now, so I can't read this comic to see if it is good, but here is a Lovecraft webcomic:

http://www.macguff.fr/goomi/unspeakable/vault316.html

Team Fortress 2 is $2.50 until 5pm EST today...  on Steam, I assume.

I want to get it!  I didn't want to get it again (I have it for X-Box 360) for $20, but I will pay $2.50.

Lisa, do you want me to get it for you too???

E and M, you guys still play this?  Plan to?

http://www.shacknews.com/laryn.x?story=61061

Hey!  Thank you for replying, everyone! To my last post.  I have added some of your sites to my daily checklist and checked out most of the others.

Merlin is up and walking and making me let him out of the bathroom we've been keeping him in.

Technically he is about the same, except less tired, as he was when he got home.  I say this because he still wants to eat but can't figure out how to use his mouth to eat... he just licks the food and slobbers... and he is still drooling a lot... but it is nice to see him wanting to get up and explore instead of just sleeping all the time.

I think he'll be able to eat and therefore have his feeding tube removed.  It is encouraging that he is even interested.  I just hope he'll get better.

At work I have A Million things to do.  See how diligently I am working?  sigh.

Werewolf discussion and character creation tonight sounds fun, and I am excited, but logistically?  I hope it will work out so we don't have to wait until next week.  We still haven't packed for our trip yet.

Halo 3 multiplayers are CREEPY.

So I haven't posted in a long time.  I need to add some people to my friend's list.  I think John, Mallory, Emily...

I am not even sure who is ON my friend's list!  I will look and fix things.  Sorry about that everyone.

In order to post more... yay?... I am not going to think too much about my posts.  I used to overthink things before trying to post.  I am just going to ramble.

I am procrastinating making phone calls that I deem to be borderline ridiculous in premise.  I am calling people who wanted to be signed up for a class at the school I work at months ago that got cancelled then but now we have a class that is about to be cancelled and you know what... just nevermind.  It is a stupid thing to ask people and I don't want to do it.  If I can busy myself for 40 minutes, I can do it tomorrow.

Yay?

I need some new websites to check daily.

So far I have
Everything from Here to There
Non-Adventures of Wonderella (recently added)
Penny-Arcade
N4G
CNN
my e-mail

occasionally I check Metacritic and confirm suspicions
occasionally I check World of Warcraft to see if something changed to entice me to spend more time playing

Can anyone make any suggestions?  I specifically want something like N4G or CNN... something with daily news.  I sometimes check Science Daily, which used to be my homepage, but something felt depressing about seeing scientific breakthroughs every day but not hearing about them coming to any fruition.

So, suggestions??????????  I am soliciting YOUR comment.

the pisces
and the elephant
the goround
the nightshade

carefully we wreak
and toil
serf side

tasting dips in the sun
tithing in subsidence

mouth and madness
into that great scape

disaster shine across my hearth

found and drowned in oblivious reenactment

----------------------------------

killed froth
forgotten lengths
verity insured
depths absolute
taste felt
licking wounds

It's still cool that they used math and stuff to quantify it...
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090728/sc_afp/sciencearmsoffbeat

Hi folks (L, M, E),

It looks like the time period we chose should be interesting.  Lots of things are going on with the Mandolorians, Sith, Republic, and Jedi.  Not all Jedi adhere to the Council's wishes in this time period.  Some have aligned themselves with the Bounty Hunters Guild and others are doing their own thing.  Beyond that, smuggling, piracy, and mercenaries are common, as are Jedi, Sith, bounty hunters, droids, explorers, colonists, and so on.  Almost anything you can think of should be possible regarding stance in the universe politically and your character's past and occupation.

Mallory, when you get the forums set up, please send me a link and instructions for Lisa and I to join w/posting rights.

E, M, I started researching the races you preliminarily chose for the game and I am happy to report both homeworlds and races are possible and active during the time period we chose. 

L, as you know already, we are continuing to investigate droid character progressions regarding game mechanics, but a fun droid storyline would be easy to create during this time period.

Links for info on races, just for convenience, not because I don't think you could find it yourselves...

Zabrak
http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Zabrak

Bothan
http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Bothan

That's it for now,
W

http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20090722/sc_livescience/strangehumansglowinvisiblelight

The article and the study really doesn't seem to think this is a big deal beyond a "huh, who knew?" attitude, but I think this is pretty significant.

This is a really big deal

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/07/090715131449.htm

I will post my review thoughts of Harry Potter and The Half Blood Prince later today.  Everyone be excited!