Growing up in Eminence I wasn’t privileged to some of the cool things about urban life.  The nearest movie theater was over an hour away, and the nearest fast food war at least a 25-mile drive.  I wasn’t able to drive down to Best Buy to pickup the newest video game or movie, and a trip to the mall was a exciting trip two hour down the road. When I had a chance to move to the city, I jumped on it. Luckily I’ve been able to settle down in West St. Louis County.  Its feels like you’re living in the city, as it has several of the conveniences, but doesn’t have that real urban feel.

I don’t ever regret leaving the small town, and with nights like last Monday I think I made the right choise.  I was able to borrow the company’s corporate suite to see Metallica as they rolled through St. Louis.  The concert was amazing and just a short 20 minute drive from my apartment.   Steve and I got there just in time for the opening band to start playing, we sat in the cozy suite with private bathroom and enjoyed a really great show.   The band played for over 2 hours, and on Tuesday I was able to download the entire concert from their website.  Pretty neat little feature and a nice little keepsake.  The picture above on the left t is from the show.

This past Saturday my mom turned 60 years old.  She really doesn’t look her age, and the way she keeps buying convertibles, she doesn’t act it either :D  This weekend for “black friday,” KG and I will be working for mom in the mall in Cape Girardeau.  I’ll be cooking frosted nuts while KG will be personalizing Christmas ornaments.  Should be fun, and it should be crazy busy.

When Numa Numa took over the internet a couple years back I was instantly a fan.   So I was overjoyed when I heard the rapper T.I. sampled this for his new song Live Your Live.  Now if we can just get Chris Brown to some home incorporate the Dramatic looking Chipmunk then I can die a happy man.

The buzz around Star Trek is starting to grow as we get close to the release of the new JJ Abrams relaunch of Star Trek.  I recently read this article on Den of Geek about the very same thing.  The article it references one of the greatest YouTube videos I’ve ever seen, an omage to the Red Shirt.

Red shirts, everyone loves them, and nobody wants to be one.  The term “red shirt” comes from the original Star Trek series and the seemingly expendable characters who wore them.  These single-episode characters would accompany the main characters on missions and more often than not wouldn’t make it back.

If you haven’t seen the trailer for the new movie check it out here.  I have really high hopes for this.  I really liked Cloverfield and KG & I are devout watchers of Lost.

This list of the dumbest GI Joe vehicles really takes me back.  I am pretty certain I owned #’s 1, 4, 11, and #12.  The Havoc has no business on this list because it is completely awesome.  It has a doors in the back that can open up for a hovercraft to launch to get to those hard-to-reach areas where Cobra can hide.   Possibly dumber than anything on this list was the floating platform that my brother and I got for being in my Uncle Greg’s wedding. Don’t get me wrong, the toy was AWESOME, but the practicability of said platform was pretty ridiculous.  The cream of the crop as far as GI Joe vehicles goes was the U.S.S. Flagg, a 7-foot long toy aircraft carrier.  Very few kids could afford this so it was pretty special when you found a kid who had one.  Luckily I knew a kid in Eminence who actually owned one, and let me tell you, it was AWESOME!

The annual November Lan Party was once again at Butch and Katie’s house in Herculaneum and it was a blast! The Reiter’s have a huge basement that works perfect for setting up all of our computers.   The gracious hosts treated us to pizza, mostacholi, turkey and stuffing, and tons of great breakfast items. The game dejour was once again Team Fortress 2, the multi-class, multiplayer game included in the Orange Box.  In between matches we were able to sneak in time on our favorite MMO, Warhammer Online.   We also played a few sessions of Valve’s new zombie survival game, Left 4 Dead.  This game looks like it has real potential.

This year’s guest list included: Andrew Reiter, Nate Reiter, Jaker Reiter, Tristan Pinkham, Kaleb Captain, Nathan Sanders, Josh Rose, Dan Gidman, Jeremy Randall McNeal, Nathan Thomack, Jason Wyatt, Anatoli Lateria, Matt Libertini, Jonathan Libertini, Aaron Holmes, Joe Frescoln,  Chris Whatley, Jeremy Whatley, and Matt Frazier.  Almost the entire STL LAN crew was in attendance with only Justin Miller and Garett Frescoln being absent.  Our two missing members were able to connect to our server and join in the action remotely.

A great time was had by all and the countdown has begun for next year!

October is my favorite month.  The weather in St. Louis is perfect this time of year, and one of my favorite holidays is at the end of the month.  Unfortunately the Cardinals aren’t in the playoffs this year, but there’s always next season.

Ever since I was a little kid I have enjoyed dressing up and going door-to-door begging for candy.  While I’ve given up the latter, I still enjoy wearing a costume.   Whether it was the highly flammable costumes you get at the supermarket, the ones with the elastic string that lasted exactly 15 minutes or the more elaborate ones my mom crafted, I was always a contender at the local Halloween costume contests. After three years dressing up as Dracula, Kari insisted I get something new.   Reluctantly I hung up the cape and fake teeth and we went to Party City to buy me a new costume.   Below is the best we could come up with:

Kid Vader wants your candy.  You don’t want to cross a mini-Sith do you?  For more great costumes and a few slightly disturbing ones check out this site.

A big congrats to my cousin James Rowden and his wife Angie on the birth of their new baby Breyer Owen!!!!  I know Grandma Renee and the rest of the clan are so proud!

A true Halloween treasure…. Christopher Walken reading Edgar Allen Poe’s The Raven.  Its missing something though, I can’t quite put my finger on it.

As the election nears, I’m asking everyone to consider voting for a real American.  Can you imagine the kind of smack down the Hulkster would unleash on the axis of evil? He is undefeated against the likes of the Iron Shiek and Nikolai Volkoff, beating into submission on several occassions. Kim Jung you’re going down brutha!

This year’s November Lan is only a couple weeks away and I can’t wait!  For the past 8 years, my crew and I have gotten together each year to compete in Epic battles on our computers.  We deep fry a turkey and gorge ourselves on stuffing and Mnt Dew.  This year will be no different as we travel to Festus, MO and invade our hosts Butch and Katie Reiter.

I love the new song by Against Me which features guest vocalist Tegan.  She’s of course one half of the twin supergroup Tegan & Sara and if you’re not familiar with their work then check out this video. They burst into the mainstream with their latest album The Con.  They a brief splash two years earlier when the White Stripes covered one of their classics, Walking With a Ghost.

Work has been absolutely insane the last few weeks.  As the newspaper industry transitions into new media and struggles with a terrible economy, I’ve been involved with several key projects.  As I typically I update my blog during the downtime at my office, my poor little website has been gathering dust.

Things are finally starting to calm down, so I’ve tried to sneak in an update for the ravenous fan of my website.  I really enjoy blogging, but this update is mostly to get her off my back.

Last weekend Kari and I went to Eminence to assist in the family concessionaire business.  Its tons of fun to work in the fast paced world of fried foods.  The key is to do it in very small doses.  I would hate doing this as a career.  I love sneaking away to Eminence and the weather was absolutely perfect.  Unfortunately the only souvenir from the Arts & Crafts I took back with me was a nasty burn on my elbow (thanks to my brother).  Check out the Arts & Crafts pictures from my brother’s Flickr site.  Mark also took this great video of my mom playing with a stick.

Most of my free time at home has been spent looking for a house to buy and playing Warhammer Online.   On Monday we found out that the offer we made was accepted and we’ve begun closing procedures.  Hopefully this will give me more time to play Warhammer!

Warhammer is the next great MMO from the makers of Dark Age of Camelot, a game I spent way too many hours playing.   Its based on the Games Workshop tabletop game and is more Player-versus-Player focused than  World of Warcraft.   Several of the guys I played WoW and DAOC have joined up on the same server and we relaunched the old guild, Infinite Darkness.

The Rock Band stage kit is almost available for the public!  This is my favorite game, there’s nothing quite as fun as belting out classic rock songs and pretending you’re Steve Perry or  the lead singer from the Silversun Pickups.  I can’t wait until the next Lan Party when I can see some of the STL LAN crew testing out their mic skills.

Speaking of Rock Band, they recently updated their website with a new Merch section.  You now have the ability to get posters, t-shirts, stickers, and even 6″ figures made in the likeness of your virtual bands!  Look for Zombie Nation 2000 posters to be appearing on store shelves soon!

Its been a few weeks since my last update mostly because work has been crazy.  Its no secret the newspaper  business isn’t exactly doing great.  Lack of advertising and a sluggish economy has caused revenue to decline which in turn has forced several cutbacks and major reorganization.

Over Labor Day Kari and I drove to Eminence to hit the river and relax at the family cabin.  The picture on the right is prior to our float on the Jacks Fork.  Kari said she was embarrassed to go out in public with me, but I was just trying to fit in with the locals.  I love getting to go to the cabin.  Its so relaxing being away from work, my phone and everything else. I can’t wait for the Arts & Crafts in a couple weeks.

The final character list for the upcoming Mortal Kombat vs DC Universe game has been revealed.  I’m excited to see the inclusion of some of the baddest of the bad in DC Comics.   Darkseid and Lex Luthor will be joining the ranks and should make for some interesting matchups with the classic MK characters.   Combining these two worlds together is like mixing chocolate and peanut butter.  I love Mortal Kombat and I love DC Comics, of course i’m going to love it when you mix them together!

The fall TV season is here and all of my favorite shows are back, the ones that didn’t get canceled that is. Prison Break, one of my favorites,  is back with a crazy convoluted plot.  The crew that has already broken out of two separate prisons has managed to get scooped up by the CIA, and is working on recovering a top secret hard drive from an evil organization called The Company.   It sounds pretty wacky, but it looks amazing in HD and I don’t really care.

One of the new shows I’m watching is Sons of Anarchy.  Its about a California motorcycle gang and their shady dealings.   Much like Sopranos it takes a deeper look at their inter-personal affairs and puts a face some of the bad people out there.  I’ve only seen two episodes, but I’m really hoping it gets picked up for next season as its one of the better dramas I’ve seen, though it borrows heavily from the Sopranos.

Apple announced new iPods and updated their iTunes software this week.  The iPod just keeps getting cooler and cooler.  The most radical change in the form of the Nano.  It got a new redesign that looks almost identical to an older model but this time its packing a nice video display.  It also comes in a plethora of new colors if you’re into that (KG.)

Rick Rolling is so last month.  Barrack Rolling is the new hotness.  By the way, is anyone surprised he’s a muslim?

I keep forgetting to mention a web-only show that I absolutely love.  Its called Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog and it was produced by Joss Whedon.    Whedon is responsible for cult favorites Firefly, Buffy The Vamipre Slayer, and the new Dollhouse show on Fox.  Dr. Horrible stars Neil Patrick Harris (Doogie Howser) and Nathaon Fillion from Firefly.  The show has a super high production value for an web series and has that classic Whedon sense of humor.  Please check this out, you can watch it on the official website or download it from iTunes.  The show has gained such a buzz on the internet that there are already talks of a sequel as well as this webcomic.

I’m back at work this week from a hard week of gaming in Indiana.  I attended the annual Gen Con at the Indianapolis Convention Center in downtown Indy along with Alex, Steve, Matt2, and DM Dave.  We had a great time playing VS, crawling through dungeons with DM Dave, and getting to shop the Great Hall, the ultimate nerd shopping experience.   I took a ton of photos with my digital camera and my phone and loaded them all together,  I’ll leave it up to you to tell the difference.

Driving back Sunday afternoon I was pretty wiped out.  We packed in as much gaming as we possibly could only taking breaks to eat, sleep, and walk the great hall otherwise we were gaming!  I can’t wait until next year, only 355 more days to go!!!

When I returned from Indiana I was greeted by  a brand new 46″ Samsung LCD.  I had ordered the TV from Amazon since they were able to provide me with the best deal.  Not only was it the lowest price anywhere online but they also gave me free shipping and no sales tax!  Thats a huge saving on something like this. The first thing I noticed when I sat down to watch some TV is that the traditional analog signal is just not going to cut it.   Talking with Charter I found I could rent the HD box for a mere $10/month extra, and after just a few days of HD television, I have to say its well worth it.  Seeing the Cardinal games in clear 1080i resolution is awe-inspiring.

One of the main reasons for wanting a new HD TV was so that I could play my Xbox 360 and have it look the way its supposed to.   Lately I’ve been playing a ton of Soul Caliber IV.   This is the fifth in a series of very successful fighting games starting with the original Soul Blade for the Playstation One.  This game takes a different spin on the genre and features unique weapons for each of its characters.   The game looks amazing in 1080, but without an HDMI cable I’m not completely satisified as it could look if I had an HMDI-ready Xbox 360.  SC4 is really fun and features a unique spin on character creation.  I’ve literally spent hours customizing my favorite characters adding new weapons and outfits.  It really helps keep the game fresh and I’ll be playing this for many weeks to come.

Yesterday I was THIS close to driving to California and burning down the SciFi Channel offices.  After hearing  about the cancellation of one of my favorite shows Stargate: Atlantis, I was seriously ticked off (and rightly so!)  Today comes word of the launch of the third Stargate series Stargate: Universe.  Although the plot sounds very similar to that of Star Trek Voyager, at least its something.  I am really going to miss the adventures of Colonel Sheppard and the crew of Atlantis, but I guess if this is the worst of my problem then I’m pretty lucky.  There is word of a 2-hour straight-to-dvd movie from the Atlantis cast.  I guess the two previous SG-1 movies were successful enough to warrant more.

Last week I turned 31.  Not a great achievement by any means and not something I was looking particularly forward to.  Granted its nice to get presents from your loved ones, but each year makes turning 40 and middle-age even closer.   On Wednesday my actual birthday, Kari treated me to lunch at Quiznos and dinner from Cecil Whitakers, I also got my new Alpine car stero installed, not a bad day!  On Friday my mom and Aunt were in town for my adopted cousin’s wedding.  Dr. Guttman and The Kat took everyone out for dinner at Kobe Steakhouse.  For special occasions it doesn’t get any better than a hibachi grill.   The mix of food and showmanship by the chef make it a really fun night.  On Sunday my dad came into town a day before his flight on Monday to Utah.  Mr. Kotter was sporting his new “old man” glasses.  Plastic frames that are big enough to fit over his reading glasses.  You can see me modeling them on the picture below.

On Saturday KG and I saw The Dark Knight.  There isn’t much I can say other than this movie is absolutely terrific.  Its not so much a “super hero movie” as a heavy drama with super heroes.  It was simply amazing, and very well done.  All the hype surrounding this movie is warranted.   Go see as soon as you can.

There is a HUGE UFC card this weekend.  The main event which has huge title implications is being over shadowed by a pair of under card matches.  The return of the Next Big Thing, Brock Lesnar taking on heavyweight journeyman Heath Herring, and a match many are calling potential fight of the year in Roger Huerta and Kenny Florian.  This card is stacked and is guaranteed to deliver excitement.

Speaking of the UFC, Dana White has been doing video blogs all week long as he travels the country promoting UFC 87.  They’re pretty interesting and provide some insight behind the scenes.

Pictures from the Puckfest 2008 tournament I played in a couple weeks ago including one of me holding the trophy!

So who gets the Madden Curse this year?  The cover of Madden 09 on the Xbox 360 has Brett Favre pictured… in a Packers uniform.  I’m leaning towards the Packers.  I just can’t understand how you dump a Hall of Fame quarterback like Favre like yesterday’s garbage.

Kari and I celebrated our 1st anniversary this past weekend ( officially it was Monday.)  As part of our wedding package the Sheraton gave us a free room on our anniversary date.   Fortunately for us the Sheraton was booked the night before and it took us a while to get a room, the fortunate part being we were given free drinks and free breakfast vouchers as compensation.  Another mix-up on the Sheraton’s part found us finding free deserts and champagne in our room (they were meant for another couple.)  We started the day with by visiting the St. Louis Art Museum, had a really nice dinner at Alexander’s, and ended the night by visiting the swimming pool.  I had thought about making this an anniversary tradition, but after seeing the retail price of the room, I quickly sobered up.

The guy who did the Steampunk modifications on the Star Wars action figures is back with the Empire Strikes Back collection.  This guy is totally amazing, and the figures all really capture the style and feel of the Steampunk genre.  His Boba Fett is absolutely incredible.

If this rumored setlist for Guitar Hero World Tour is even halfway accurate, its going to be a must buy.  It features at least three Tool songs, and the debut of both the Doors AND Jimmy Hendrix.  Looks like a great list.  I just hope my rockband instruments are compatible.

There were three great MMA events over the weekend.   The UFC provided counter-programming to try and disrupt the debut of the newest MMA company Affliction.   Both shows featured each company’s best fighter, and the #1 and #2 pound-for-pound respectively.  The question is who is #1?   Fedor Emelineko is often regarded as the best fighter on the planet, but with lack of quality competitive fights as of late his prestige has started to tarnish.  Anderson Silva looks absolutely unbeatable at this point.  Its hard to choose between either of these fighters and neither disappointed as both main events this weekend lasted less than a minute.  While you decide check out this awesome Silva HL video.

Speaking of Affliction, they have some the coolest t-shirts I’ve ever seen.  Their new “Bamboo” line looks especially cool.  At $66 they’re a little out of my league, but if I ever start fighting in the UFC maybe I can get one.

There is one more major fight card this weekend on CBS promoted by the EliteXC folks.  This event will feature St. Louisan Robbie Lawler and is a rematch from the last CBS/EliteXC show.  Also on the card is one of my favorites Nick Diaz.  Nick is one of those fighters that fans love to hate.  He’s brash and it would seem he likes to look for trouble.

The trailer for the Watchmen is now online.  This movie is based on the most highly regarded comic of the same name, and features 300 director Zach Snyder.  I only made it about halfway through reading the Watchmen, but it looks like I may have to give it another look before the movie hits theaters.  We’re still a year away, but next year’s lineup of movies is really starting to take shape.  It seems like comic books are an endless resources of awesomeness for Hollywood directors.

Over the holiday weekend, Kari and I traveled to Ozark to help my mom with her concession trailer.  We were both employees of Patty’s Concessions just for the day. According to one report there was over 120,000 people that showed up for the annual I Love America festival, and business was great!  We sold out of nearly everything we had, with a line of over 30 people from 4 to 9 PM.  Check out the picture of Kari on the left below.  She may have been all smiles when we setup that morning, but it was a bad scene when we closed.   It was tons of fun helping out mom in the trailer, I just wouldn’t want to do this every weekend.

I forgot to mention in my last post, but my Aunt Linda won Citizen of the Year in Malden.  This is a pretty big honor which is must deserved for all the charity work she does with in the community. I think thats pretty cool!

Its non-issue, the best American Gladiator is Gina Carano aka Crush.  Check out this video of Crush taking out some old lady on pyramid.  The good stuff happens around 1:25

I wish I had a copy of this poster for my office.  Personally a cool picture of Han Solo gets me more pumped up than a picture of some dude’s in row boat and some crap about Teamwork.

The new Hulk movie is FANTASTIC.  I saw this a couple weekends ago with the biggest Hulk fanboy I know, Aaron “P-Diddy” Holmes.  We both agreed this movie was almost as good as Iron Man, and definitely the better than anything out there. This was relaunch of the franchise and is no way related to the debacle that was the Ang Lee movie from a couple years ago.   Ed Norton was brilliant as Dr. Bruce Banner and the special effects used on the Hulk were top notch.  Go see this or the Hulk will SMASH you!

In case you’ve been living under a rock, you know that Diablo 3 has been officially announced.  This game is of course done by the makers of World of Warcraft and looks awwwwwwwwesome.  I don’t expect this to be done anytime this year as Blizzard is notoriously bad for taking forever to release games.  Look at Starcraft 2, that game was announced last year, and it still isn’t out.   Check out this video on two of the classes in D3.

The greatest footie on the planet.  All 42 goals from this year’s Champions League.  The goal at 6:33 is just mind bottling.

This web comic is GREAT.  It makes light of the ongoing “arms race” between the different rhythm games like Rock Band and Guitar Hero.   Neil Pert is of course the drummer from Rush who’s most famous for his 31-piece drums setup.

I survived a wild trip on the river with the Reiters this past weekend.  We did an overnight float trip on the Big River near De Soto, Missouri.  We headed out Saturday morning, floated for about five hours, and then made camp on a gravel bar.  The next morning we floated another four hours before we loaded up the canoes and headed to Imo’s for lunch.  You can see the pictures from the trip I took on my flickr photo stream.

This email just arrived from our Publisher’s administrative assistant: “As you are all aware of, the building has had a water main break.  There will be no water and bathroom facilities today.  The building owners are providing porta-potties outside.  Arrival of the porta-potties will be sometime this morning.”   I have been drinking water all morning and the situation is getting critical!

Here’s a picture I snapped this morning of the “Corporate Washroom” here at the SBJ.

I love covers, especially when they’re done by artists that are drastically different stylistically from the original.  Crazy by Gnarles Barkley was one of the most popular songs of last year.  You couldn’t go anywhere without hearing it The Violent Femmes, one of the great bands from the 90’s that was “indie” before it was fashionable.  Their cover of Crazy is now available on MySpace or iTunes.  Check it out, its pretty cool.  In case you haven’t seen it, the Mtv performance of Crazy by Gnarles Barkley featuring Chewbaca on drums.  Instant classic!

Speaking of Gnarles Barkley, here is their latest video. DJ Dangermouse is such a genius!

This cartoon really made me laugh, I know how you feel buddy! If I can just raise enough money maybe I can get KG to let me get the 3G iPhone.  You can donate money here!

Even though its been like 18 years since Diablo 2 came out, that doesn’t temper my excitement for the sequel!  Thats right, Blizzard has officially announced Diablo 3 at Blizzard World.   They also unveiled a fully interactive website with art, trailers, and much more.  This has quickly lept to the top of the heap of games that I am excited about!  Check out the teaser trailer and tell me you don’t feel the same way.