Every now and then comes a time when you have to reinstall your XP. Wish it wasn't the case -- and maybe some day I'll manage to protect myself from all sorts of crap and be careful enough not to stuff my system with junk to boot -- but the way things are now, it's not very surprising that sooner or later (luckily, it's usually later) it's necessary to finally wipe it all off. Now, obviously it's a nuisance, obviously no matter how well you prepare yourself beforehand and how much attention you put into backing up all important data, files, settings and whatnot, you end up losing something you just forgot about and some other things that theoretically should work fine after the format just don't wanna and you have to go through the long and laborious process of configuring your foobar2000 just the way you liked it before the reinstall. But! The thing that never ceases to surprise me is... how much I like that. No, really. I'm by no means an order freak but still, once a certain critical mass of mess ("mass of mess", hehe) accumulates -- be it computers or real life -- I get a serious kick out of getting rid of stuff, organizing things, putting them in the right places, making it all nice and tidy... so that finally I can admire the new (or, renewed) Quality with a capital Q. It just feels good. And same goes for reinstalling XP. Suddenly all just works fast, suddenly I have no mess in my Start menu, suddenly I have a nice new WindowBlinds skin, new slick wallpaper, fresh set of ObjectDock icons. Suddenly I find myself purging my apps partition out of programs I haven't used for years. Suddenly I find myself organizing my Opera bookmarks. And please take my word for it: I'm no order freak. Really. But it just makes me feel good, and every now and then a computer user simply deserves to feel good, doesn't he? Well, at least until it all goes back to normal.
Wednesday, February 7
Monday, January 22
Stuff them ears!
So I had the bright idea last night to start looking for new earbuds for my trusty Creative Zen Touch. After a good year and a bit of using the player, the pack-in earbuds (not that horribly bad themselves, incidentally) just started giving up on me. (By the way, don't even ask what made me think of my mp3 player's earbuds while sitting at my computer at night.) Still last night I did some research online... and guess what, as of today I am a proud owner of a Sennheiser CX 300 set. Yeah, I still can't understand how I managed to get myself to pay 159 zlotys (that's aroud 40 euros or 53 dollars) for a set of earbuds, and not to mention -- just a day after I initially thought of getting one (pretty unusual for someone like me)... but there you go. Of course I could just say I'm a gadget freak and I live for getting new things. Now that would about explain everything, right?
Anyway, this is the first time ever I own a set of those freaky-deaky earbuds that fit right in your ear canal. I admit it's a little weird at first (not to mention I still have this funny, hard-to-describe feeling in my right ear as I write these words, some 30 minutes after removing the earbuds) but I suppose -- or at least hope! -- this will in fact go away. I can already sense this is going to grow on me as I use the set, until I would be able to go back to "normal" earbuds. The tricky thing about using canalphones (as I've just found they are called -- thank you Wikipedia) is that you won't get practically any bass unless the silicone cushions (three different sizes included) don't sit tightly inside your ear canal. That's why at first I was like, "Wait as second, I paid 160 zlotys for THIS?" Turns out I didn't stick the earbuds deep enough. So yeah, it is a little weird and it feels a little... uhm, intrusive on your body, so to speak. Especially if you're a person who doesn't like having things stuck in their ears. (Ok, that's sounded creepy... Are there any people who like that?) Still, when used right, my new earbuds deliver a sound quality to be reckoned with. Oh gawd, I sound like a walking sponsored article.
Oh, and while I was writing this, I realized I just have to plug the new earbuds into my DS and play some Meteos that way. Ooh goodie goodie.
Anyway, this is the first time ever I own a set of those freaky-deaky earbuds that fit right in your ear canal. I admit it's a little weird at first (not to mention I still have this funny, hard-to-describe feeling in my right ear as I write these words, some 30 minutes after removing the earbuds) but I suppose -- or at least hope! -- this will in fact go away. I can already sense this is going to grow on me as I use the set, until I would be able to go back to "normal" earbuds. The tricky thing about using canalphones (as I've just found they are called -- thank you Wikipedia) is that you won't get practically any bass unless the silicone cushions (three different sizes included) don't sit tightly inside your ear canal. That's why at first I was like, "Wait as second, I paid 160 zlotys for THIS?" Turns out I didn't stick the earbuds deep enough. So yeah, it is a little weird and it feels a little... uhm, intrusive on your body, so to speak. Especially if you're a person who doesn't like having things stuck in their ears. (Ok, that's sounded creepy... Are there any people who like that?) Still, when used right, my new earbuds deliver a sound quality to be reckoned with. Oh gawd, I sound like a walking sponsored article.
Oh, and while I was writing this, I realized I just have to plug the new earbuds into my DS and play some Meteos that way. Ooh goodie goodie.
The sad fate, is it?
So it seems I can't escape my fate, eh? Do I hate myself more just for not updating or for thus making this blog another one of the countless half-a-dozen-notes-before-it's-all-over blogs. Oh well.
Actually I can sort of understand why I kept silent for most of November: I was way too much excited about counting days before the European Wii launch. But then came December 8, the big stress-filled day, which consisted mostly of me obsessing on whether or not I will manage to get one (the pre-order didn't work out, how else). I only snatched it at around 8 p.m. (which on that day felt like waaaay later even) and... played ever since. Obviously a reason to update more often, right? Apparently wrong. Even I don't understand me.
So anyway, I don't think there is a point in me saying how much I enjoy my Wii. That's pretty much understood, right? Everybody loves their Wii by now, so it's enough for me to raise a finger and go, "Yeah, me too." Obviously. Funny thing however: for over a month now I practically haven't played on my PC. Not a single time. And it's not even that I'm all that glued to the Wii -- I can't be since it's stationed in the living room and the living room is out of my reach much of the time, so to speak. But when the Wii is unavailable, I play the DS, quite a lot even. But somehow not the PC. I really don't know what's wrong with me -- I really don't hate PC gaming all of a sudden, trust me.
Ok, let's see how long I can keep it going this time. Not that I think there are real live people reading this... Or are there?
Actually I can sort of understand why I kept silent for most of November: I was way too much excited about counting days before the European Wii launch. But then came December 8, the big stress-filled day, which consisted mostly of me obsessing on whether or not I will manage to get one (the pre-order didn't work out, how else). I only snatched it at around 8 p.m. (which on that day felt like waaaay later even) and... played ever since. Obviously a reason to update more often, right? Apparently wrong. Even I don't understand me.
So anyway, I don't think there is a point in me saying how much I enjoy my Wii. That's pretty much understood, right? Everybody loves their Wii by now, so it's enough for me to raise a finger and go, "Yeah, me too." Obviously. Funny thing however: for over a month now I practically haven't played on my PC. Not a single time. And it's not even that I'm all that glued to the Wii -- I can't be since it's stationed in the living room and the living room is out of my reach much of the time, so to speak. But when the Wii is unavailable, I play the DS, quite a lot even. But somehow not the PC. I really don't know what's wrong with me -- I really don't hate PC gaming all of a sudden, trust me.
Ok, let's see how long I can keep it going this time. Not that I think there are real live people reading this... Or are there?
Saturday, November 11
Pwntendo, seriously
I'll keep it short and sweet this time round, since I still have a couple of pages to translate today before I can call it a day.
Big Brain Academy arrived a couple of days ago and I've been having real good time with it since then, as it's just a damn fun app. Mentioned it to my mother in passing a few times, but only today I could actually show the thing to her properly and let her have a go at it. And mind you, she's never held the DS in her hands before now (well, maybe a couple of times -- turned off and closed). Having shown her all the minigames so that she wouldn't have to trouble herself with the English too much, I let the unit lying on her living room table for her to pick up and try out when she felt like it. (Good way for me to actually get more work done, by the way, with the DS out of the way for a while.) So after a couple of hours she brings it back to me, saying she liked it, though still quite slow at it and all, but she needs to give it back for the time being... because it's too addictive.
Now I know I'm saying nothing new here, but if a single video game can bring together an avid gamer and his non-gamer mother -- whoever made that game has got to be on to something. Sure, it's not like this is anything life-changing or whatever. Still, it's just nice and I felt like mentioning it here. So -- Pwntendo, right?
In other related news, I've just watched the first couple of minutes of GameSpot's "We just got Wii" marathon (paused to post this entry, and well, to get some more work done, since the vid's quite a long bugger) and I can't be more psyched. No, wait, I can: once I see more of it. And hell, somehow come December 8 I expect some more experiences like the one described above.
Big Brain Academy arrived a couple of days ago and I've been having real good time with it since then, as it's just a damn fun app. Mentioned it to my mother in passing a few times, but only today I could actually show the thing to her properly and let her have a go at it. And mind you, she's never held the DS in her hands before now (well, maybe a couple of times -- turned off and closed). Having shown her all the minigames so that she wouldn't have to trouble herself with the English too much, I let the unit lying on her living room table for her to pick up and try out when she felt like it. (Good way for me to actually get more work done, by the way, with the DS out of the way for a while.) So after a couple of hours she brings it back to me, saying she liked it, though still quite slow at it and all, but she needs to give it back for the time being... because it's too addictive.
Now I know I'm saying nothing new here, but if a single video game can bring together an avid gamer and his non-gamer mother -- whoever made that game has got to be on to something. Sure, it's not like this is anything life-changing or whatever. Still, it's just nice and I felt like mentioning it here. So -- Pwntendo, right?
In other related news, I've just watched the first couple of minutes of GameSpot's "We just got Wii" marathon (paused to post this entry, and well, to get some more work done, since the vid's quite a long bugger) and I can't be more psyched. No, wait, I can: once I see more of it. And hell, somehow come December 8 I expect some more experiences like the one described above.
Monday, November 6
The retardedness threshold?
Perhaps I'm rushing things, but I might have just found a game that's too retarded to play. And I'm talking story, not gameplay. But let's take it one step at a time.
A while ago my curiosity made me download the PC version of Onimusha 3. The thing had been idling on my hard drive (very much like many other games, I must say) until my latest gamepad purchase (a very sweet Logitech Dual Action with a disarming "Works with Windows Vista" label on the box) provoked me to play a console port and that's where Onimusha came in handy.
And let me be allowed to say this: oh, my, god. To say that the cutscenes I saw during the first 15 minutes of gaming made me cringe would be an understatement, I think. Ok, so there was a lot of blood -- and I presume that's supposed to be a good thing here. However, the amounts of rubbish coming out of the characters' mouths, the sheer volume of cheap cliches packed into just a few minutes of action and dialogue... Somehow, silly games from the days of old don't really bother me. I remember playing a solid share of dumb games when I was younger, I can also enjoy a dumb SNES rom on my emulator with no problems, of course as long as it's fun to play. I guess I assume it was "back then" and they "didn't know better." But here we have a game that came out in 2005. A game with frikkin' Jean Reno -- so somehow I'm assuming Capcom should know better. But no, we have modern-day Frenchmen speaking French and medieval Japanese men speaking, naturally... English, we have ghoulish Samurai monsters falling from the Paris sky, we have people running in the streets and getting slaughtered the way only C-movie extras know how, we have the most cliche Japanese duel you could imagine practically first thing after starting the game, we have French tough guys shooting way too many bullets, yelling "Eat this!" and a bunch of other macho talk even The Rock would refuse to utter, we have one of them getting hit and telling the other to leave him behind, and naturally we have the said other refusing to obey... And yes, all of that within the first dozen minutes... I'll be honest: I'm really afraid what might come next.
I hate being judgmental, but somehow I feel this game embodies all that is wrong about the Playstation 2 generation. For while in the distant past most games were just as silly, they were simplistic enough for people not to get bothered. There was nothing compelling about the story itself, and nothing "realistic" about the whole premise. But this to me is another thing altogether. Today we have means of putting together something which is "good," even if just as fantastic (for instance, I've also recently been playing Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones -- and there's a game which pulls it off quite nicely). Why dumb it down that much for the all-to-eager teenage audience?
And yeah, I guess I'm just getting old and preachy, and the next thing I know I'll be burning piles of GTA boxes in the middle of a street, wearing an "I love Jack Thompson" t-shirt. But maybe not...
I'll still give this game a chance. Maybe I will have to take back all the crap I said here. Watch this space.
PS. On an unrelated note, I've just found a bunch of user reviews dissing the hell out of the Dual Action, saying how damn faulty it is. I've always trusted Logitech and it's been nothing but good to me, so this has me puzzled... On the bright side, this gamepad seems to be second generation (it looks just a little bit different than in all the pictures online, including a different -- better, I think -- d-pad and one extra button labelled "mode") so maybe it's been improved. Not to metion the lovely Vista tag I mentioned above.
A while ago my curiosity made me download the PC version of Onimusha 3. The thing had been idling on my hard drive (very much like many other games, I must say) until my latest gamepad purchase (a very sweet Logitech Dual Action with a disarming "Works with Windows Vista" label on the box) provoked me to play a console port and that's where Onimusha came in handy.
And let me be allowed to say this: oh, my, god. To say that the cutscenes I saw during the first 15 minutes of gaming made me cringe would be an understatement, I think. Ok, so there was a lot of blood -- and I presume that's supposed to be a good thing here. However, the amounts of rubbish coming out of the characters' mouths, the sheer volume of cheap cliches packed into just a few minutes of action and dialogue... Somehow, silly games from the days of old don't really bother me. I remember playing a solid share of dumb games when I was younger, I can also enjoy a dumb SNES rom on my emulator with no problems, of course as long as it's fun to play. I guess I assume it was "back then" and they "didn't know better." But here we have a game that came out in 2005. A game with frikkin' Jean Reno -- so somehow I'm assuming Capcom should know better. But no, we have modern-day Frenchmen speaking French and medieval Japanese men speaking, naturally... English, we have ghoulish Samurai monsters falling from the Paris sky, we have people running in the streets and getting slaughtered the way only C-movie extras know how, we have the most cliche Japanese duel you could imagine practically first thing after starting the game, we have French tough guys shooting way too many bullets, yelling "Eat this!" and a bunch of other macho talk even The Rock would refuse to utter, we have one of them getting hit and telling the other to leave him behind, and naturally we have the said other refusing to obey... And yes, all of that within the first dozen minutes... I'll be honest: I'm really afraid what might come next.
I hate being judgmental, but somehow I feel this game embodies all that is wrong about the Playstation 2 generation. For while in the distant past most games were just as silly, they were simplistic enough for people not to get bothered. There was nothing compelling about the story itself, and nothing "realistic" about the whole premise. But this to me is another thing altogether. Today we have means of putting together something which is "good," even if just as fantastic (for instance, I've also recently been playing Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones -- and there's a game which pulls it off quite nicely). Why dumb it down that much for the all-to-eager teenage audience?
And yeah, I guess I'm just getting old and preachy, and the next thing I know I'll be burning piles of GTA boxes in the middle of a street, wearing an "I love Jack Thompson" t-shirt. But maybe not...
I'll still give this game a chance. Maybe I will have to take back all the crap I said here. Watch this space.
PS. On an unrelated note, I've just found a bunch of user reviews dissing the hell out of the Dual Action, saying how damn faulty it is. I've always trusted Logitech and it's been nothing but good to me, so this has me puzzled... On the bright side, this gamepad seems to be second generation (it looks just a little bit different than in all the pictures online, including a different -- better, I think -- d-pad and one extra button labelled "mode") so maybe it's been improved. Not to metion the lovely Vista tag I mentioned above.
Friday, November 3
Countdown
Yes, I am holding my breath for the Wii. Never a console user till DS, I'm nonetheless excited about this thing. Some might say it's actually the reason I'm excited about it. Well I don't know. All I know is that December can't come soon enough. I'm aware that it's not gonna be the best thing since sliced bread -- and I even have to say I'm just a tad bit bothered by just how much behind the "real" next-gens it will be -- and also I know it will be a damn money drain and I'm a little afraid of that, I'm still getting some of that Cartman syndrome (for those who have seen the South Park episode). Incidentally, although the launch titles I'm looking forward the most are Zelda, Call of Duty 3 and Raving Rabbids (in that order, I guess), I've realized today that I should postpone CoD3 till later. I mean c'mon, with one epic game like Zelda, I don't really foresee myself playing another one at the same time, albeit so very different. So now it's either Excite Truck or... hell knows what.
In related news, I'm trying to find ways to curb my appetite. So now instead of just waiting for the Wii to come out, I'm also waiting for Big Brain Academy and Metroid Prime: Hunters I won on eBay to arrive. The. Wait. Is. Bad. I guess I didn't think it over as well as it first seemed, hehe... Also, Pro Evolution Soccer 6 launches tomorrow here in Poland. Wonder if they haven't postponed it again. Wonder if my preorder will be waiting for me tomorrow. If so, there's hope the Wii also will come December 8. Gah, I'm monothematic, aren't I?
And yeah, if I keep posting to this blog as, ahem, often as once a month, I'll just go hit myself with a broomstick.
Edit: It's "tomorrow" already and now I see the website I preordered Pro Evo at says November 10. Puzzling question: was I just making stuff up in the first place or have they really postponed it again?
In related news, I'm trying to find ways to curb my appetite. So now instead of just waiting for the Wii to come out, I'm also waiting for Big Brain Academy and Metroid Prime: Hunters I won on eBay to arrive. The. Wait. Is. Bad. I guess I didn't think it over as well as it first seemed, hehe... Also, Pro Evolution Soccer 6 launches tomorrow here in Poland. Wonder if they haven't postponed it again. Wonder if my preorder will be waiting for me tomorrow. If so, there's hope the Wii also will come December 8. Gah, I'm monothematic, aren't I?
And yeah, if I keep posting to this blog as, ahem, often as once a month, I'll just go hit myself with a broomstick.
Edit: It's "tomorrow" already and now I see the website I preordered Pro Evo at says November 10. Puzzling question: was I just making stuff up in the first place or have they really postponed it again?
Saturday, October 7
Re-starting
Wow... I honestly had no idea as much as a month has passed since my last post. Time flies when you're having fun, I guess. Or time flies in general, too.
The last few weeks, when I wasn't busy with more pressing issues, I've been busy trying to figure out what new TV shows I want to follow. Problem is, I can't seem to drop any of them yet, so right now I have a whopping 13 shows on my weekly schedule: Jericho, Kidnapped, Heroes, Smith, Shark, Dexter, Studio 60, The Nine, Help Me Help You, plus of course the returning My Name Is Earl, The Office, Veronica Mars... and the show of shows that is Battlestar Galactica. Yes, I so need to cut that list down, no doubt. But that's irrelevant now, since today I'm much too worked up about having seen the BSG season premiere double feature.
My gods, I have forgotten just how good this show was. This is the only TV series in a long, long while which is considerably more than "just a show I enjoy." Even if it's not the best show that ever was, it never fails to have me on the edge of my seat and wondering how on earth they manage to pull it off just right every single time. And now, season 3 adds even more depth to the premise, with a new level of moral ambiguity and thought-provoking commentary on real-world issues. And perhaps more importantly, the character development never stops -- and the psychological complexity is what I love about the show over all other things.
Have I already I'm mentioned too worked up about all this?
The last few weeks, when I wasn't busy with more pressing issues, I've been busy trying to figure out what new TV shows I want to follow. Problem is, I can't seem to drop any of them yet, so right now I have a whopping 13 shows on my weekly schedule: Jericho, Kidnapped, Heroes, Smith, Shark, Dexter, Studio 60, The Nine, Help Me Help You, plus of course the returning My Name Is Earl, The Office, Veronica Mars... and the show of shows that is Battlestar Galactica. Yes, I so need to cut that list down, no doubt. But that's irrelevant now, since today I'm much too worked up about having seen the BSG season premiere double feature.
My gods, I have forgotten just how good this show was. This is the only TV series in a long, long while which is considerably more than "just a show I enjoy." Even if it's not the best show that ever was, it never fails to have me on the edge of my seat and wondering how on earth they manage to pull it off just right every single time. And now, season 3 adds even more depth to the premise, with a new level of moral ambiguity and thought-provoking commentary on real-world issues. And perhaps more importantly, the character development never stops -- and the psychological complexity is what I love about the show over all other things.
Have I already I'm mentioned too worked up about all this?
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