Peer Pressure Works!

Great…that’s the best I could come up with for a title. I swear, I’m not doing this on purpose to give me an intro to every entry I make here…these really are the titles that pop up. Apparently, one of my past selves was a pop psychologist with no sense of imagination…I would suggest a Dr. Phil, but more of a dick, but, frankly, that’s truly beyond the realm of anyone’s imagination. That title, however, would be rejected by Hallmark as too smarmy and awful, and they would reject it via a heavy stick beating administered by a couple of shaolin monks.

Anyway, yes, my birthday was yesterday, and if you forgot, well, fuck you, too. Had a fine evening…went out for dinner, checked out Nine Inch Nails (SWEET show…the coolest lighting/tech show I have ever seen during a concert. Really trippy effects stuff going on), now I’m just in that delightful ‘cooling down’ stage, so I’m just sitting here, chilling to some Robert Johnson, sipping down some scotch.  And what does Cliff do when these things are happening…ASIDE from that. Yes, children, it’s contemplation and reflection time. No point in running, losers, the exits are chained…if there’s a fire, we’re all gonna burn! Actually, some of you may decide to START a fire to bring on sweet death, so, HA, we’re all covered in ASBESTOS! Sure, we’ll die of cancer, but that will be YEARS down the line, so if you’re counting on THAT to save you, you are an incredibly patient human being…also, you’re stupid.

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Well, as THAT title clearly states, this is obviously a post about what I’ve been reading. Y’know, with the eye being the calm part of the hurricane, which clearly indicates…y’know…a respite from guiding little digitized armies to their doom…and cracking open a book, and such. It also indicates that, when it comes to titles, I remain an ambiguous retard. And that I apparently will never tire from the ongoing gag of “Haha…check out THIS title stupidity!” (Is it just me, though, or would ‘This Title Stupidity’ be a pretty solid name for a boat? Not any sort of commercial vessel, but maybe the private oceangoing sanctuary for some drunken C-List Never-Was type).

I was planning on writing this up last week, but then I ended up getting involved in the book I polished off last night. A chapter or two in I pretty much knew that, in my honest opinion, it was a fantastic book, the quality of which I would want to sort of shout in the general direction of people bored enough to read this. Well, that and I kept using my “I should really write a post about those books I’ve read lately” time for “You fucking noob and your goddamn grenade launcher! I shall make the rest of my evening a festival of you-pwnage! I don’t care if I die 300 times, I will now utterly focus my energies on ravaging your cheap ass!” Call of Duty 4. (I’ve sort of re-acquainted myself with this game online over the last couple weeks. Good fucking God, do I love poppin’ heads with a sniper rifle…but NOTHING, NOTHING beats fiendishly placing Claymores in high traffic locations, then seeing the quickly typed, horribly spelled rants of their victims appear on screen when they turn a corner and die.) Anyway, that ends…at least briefly enough to let me actually type this goddamn thing up!

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Due to Liam telling me I just HAD to try a game called Gunstar Heroes, I found myself downloading said game in Rom form, as well as a Genesis emulator last night. Now, immediately I also snagged some other games I knew I liked…both Toejam and Earl titles, Genghis Khan 2, Pacific Theatre of Operations, Strider, and the like. However, I found myself looking through the massive repository of titles, and decided I needed to try some more. So, I picked and chose…basically, using a blend of random chance, and stringent evaluation of just how awesome the title is, or “They made a game based on THAT movie?” I am sure I have the cream of the crop.

First off tonight were the 4 games in the Batman series, thanks to absolutely no reason other than alphabetic order. I’ll have you know all notes on these games are based on the…oh…20 or so minutes I spent playing them before no longer laughing my ass off, and deleting them. And I mean 20 minutes TOTAL, by the way, as all 4 are pretty much impossible to advance in.

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Yes, I emailed everyone, but I’ll post it here, too (and, actually, should just have posted it here in the first place…I often don’t consider such things in time). Henry Rollins is touring again this year, and shall play the Winspear on the 21st of October. Is there interest? Political rantage as the presidential season reaches it’s conclusion (FINALLY!)?

So, seeing as it was released, what, a week ago now?…I figure it’s now time to actually comment on the Stephane Dion/Liberal Green Plan. Well, I mean, the comments on the plan are actually pretty damn simple…it’s crap. Sorry, it’s crap. If this plan is supposedly to help wean us off of carbon-based fuels…why isn’t FUEL being taxed? In fact, most oil based production isn’t touched at all. (Here’s a little aside about oil use…why is it nobody ever mentions that a way to reduce our daily oil usage would be to cut down on the massive overuse of plastics and Styrofoam and all that other packaging crap that’s made from oil? Seriously…dig in to a LOT of boxes these days, and half the fucking box is packaging…and this isn’t even for something fragile! Imagine how much oil consumption could be cut, AND how much landfill space would open up, if we stopped packing everything like it’s Nitro Glycerin!) No, the only thing touched is coal. This is apparently to get Canada more in to other forms of energy. Now, that’s a fairly easy sell out East where, aside from 2 MASSIVE coal plants in Southern Ontario (which are the 2 biggest polluters in the nation, by the way), they use a lot of hydro and nuke power. Last I checked, we’re sort of lacking in raging rivers around here, and, while nuclear is an option, it’s also INCREDIBLY expensive to set up, and the Feds aren’t offering any help with that. So…what are we supposed to switch to, exactly? Considering our natural gas reserves are expected to probably be nonexistent by 2020-2025 (which is, by the way, the main reason those 2 plants haven’t switched from coal), it’d be pretty pointless to spend the next 5 years switching some power production to a gas model. (Where’s all the gas going, you might ask? Why, to the oilsands, of course! Yes, most of Canada’s natural gas is being used to heat the bitumen for oil extraction…a MASSIVE percentage is being used for this, and nothing else! And we’re EXPANDING bitumen mining, which will increase use of gas. This also raises the question of…what the duck is going to burned up for this job when the gas IS gone? Oh, that’s right, this is Alberta…just pretend it will fix itself, and enjoy the horrible roads and lack of employee service anywhere.)

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Yes, indeed, it’s time for another glimpse in to my life of complete and utter geekery!

The only new game I’ve picked up in about the last month is Out of the Park Baseball 9, and technically it doesn’t REALLY count, because I had pre-ordered it back in May to save $15 off the release price! IT’s an insanely detailed sports management sim, which basically means I am a pig in shit (question…do pigs REALLY like being in shit? How do we know their squeals as they roll around aren’t saying “Fuck! I fell over AGAIN…stop standing their lookin’ at me, ya fuckin’ farmer and GET THE DAMN HOSE!”). I haven’t yet built the 1994 Montreal Expos in to the title-contending team they would have been had the strike/lockout not cut the season short, and, quite frankly, destroyed the franchise, but it’s looming! Give me some better defensive players (I had forgotten how bad of a shortstop Wil Cordero was. The man could have worn skillets on both hands and it really wouldn’t have negatively affected his fielding at all. Also, I think Darrin Fletcher’s ability to throw out baserunners from the catcher position is adversely affected by the fact that his throwing arm has apparently been replaced by a glob of cooked spinach), and I’ll FINALLY knock those goddamn Braves off the division’s top!

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