So recently I made the switch from a MyYahoo! to Netvibes. Both sites provide a service that allow you to view the content from multiple websites on one customizable page. Almost every site now will provide you with a RSS feed, the internet standard for syndicating content on the internet. With a few simple clicks you can create your own collection of all the news, scores, and photos from your favorite sites and places them onto one manageable page. Its pretty cool. This site actually has its own RSS feed which can be found on the bottom left of this page.
One of my favorite new shows is Jericho, the now twice-canceled post-nuke drama. The story centers around a small community that struggles to keep it together after several nuclear explosions ravage most of the continental US. Having grown up in a small rural area, I immediately identified with the small farm community in western Kansas which was the setting for Jericho. The writing and acting for the show was superb, especially for network television; I would say this show is on par with 24, Deadwood, or the Sopranos. Every episode ended with a hook that compelled you to watch the next one. If you haven’t seen the show I urge you to check out the first episode and all of the other episodes on the CBS website, they’re streamed there for free.
Speaking of awesome shows that were canceled way before they should have been, Battlestar Galactica is set to kick off the fourth and final season on April 4th. The hype machine has already started, whipping fanboys and girls into a frenzy. Recently the entire cast showed up on the David Letterman show to do the Weekly Top 10.
My favorite game of all time just recently got an update. Rock Band was patched last Thursday with tweaks to the World Tour mode, the addition of an in-game store, and a few other performance tweaks. The in-game store has me a little nervous since it makes purchasing new songs so easy. With new, and surprisingly exciting content coming out every single Tuesday, its going to be an exercise in self-control.
Over the weekend I went to visit Granny Bird in Malden. Driving down KG & I were shocked at how much rain the south east part of Missouri had received. Several fields and ditches were completely flooded. Luckily my Grandma escaped most of the flooding with only a little water under her house. The food is always great when I visit my “Bootheel” Family, and the wife and I had a great time. You can see a couple pictures of KG fishing on my Flickr page.
Details are start to surface on the new World of Warcraft miniatures game. You know, because they haven’t quite milked enough money out of the franchise just yet. I love miniatures, and I used to be a WoW addict, so this is looking pretty tempting. I might have to buy a pack or two, you know, just to collect.
Today marks the return of my Super Pumped List. This was a feature on my old website, and it got several positive comments, so I thought I would bring it back! So without any further adieu, here it goes:
5) Hellboy II: The Golden Army - the sequel to the severely underrated Guillermo Del Torro’s cult hit Hellboy, based on the Image comics character of the same name. The trailer looks great and I can’t wait for it to hit theaters on July 11th.
4) Soul Caliber IV, the sword smashing game from Namco is coming to the Xbox 360, Wii, and PS2 in June. The graphics are absolutely stunning and will most assuredly be burning up my Xbox for several months. The big buzz about surrounding this game is the appearance of Star Wars alum Yoda and Darth Vader. I’m not exactly sure how fair it is to the other combatants who don’t have light sabres, but I guess we’ll see.
3) Walking Dead vol 8 - The 8th book in the Walking Dead series has been promised to shake things up a bit. I’ll admit the story was starting to get a bit stale, but this one should bring new life into the post-apocalyptic zombie franchise. Look for it on shelves in three weeks.
2) The return of Battlestar Galactica to SciFi. I’ll admit the fact this is the last season makes the debut a little bittersweet, but I’m still very excited. The promise of a new prequel series entitled Caprica, and the possibility of a movie has got fans stoked.
1) There are two Marvel movies coming out this summer leading up to a possible Avengers movie somewhere down the road. So the one thing I’m most excited about is the Iron Man and The Hulk movies which will no doubt make several millions for Marvel Comics and the studios that produced the films. Its a really good time to be a fanboy!
The US Military has confirmed they have found a weapon of mass destruction or WMD in Iraq. Unfortunately its not the ones they were looking for. According to this story on Yahoo! Chuck Norris is the only WMD in Iraq. Don’t forget: “Chuck Norris puts the laughter in manslaughter.”
The poster for the next Indiana Jones movie is creating some buzz as the movie studios hope the fourth Indy movie can rescue the summer movie season. I’m not quite sure what they’re worried about with this one, plus the Iron Man and Hulk movies all coming out this summer. Check out the trailer for Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. I have to admit, I still get a little giddy whenever I see that Lucasfilms logo. The trailer looks cool, and even though Harrison Ford looks incredibly ancient in the movie, I can’t see how this movie could suck.
Speaking of the Incredible Hulk, the trailer for the new movie starring Ed Norton is online. I saw it last night and in a fit of fan boy awesomeness I went around the house breaking stuff. This movie looks fantastic!
If anyone wants to do some early birthday shopping, I’d love to have one of these Zombie Survival Kits. You never know when the inevitable Zombie Apocalypse will happen, so its best to be prepared.
While we’re shopping for cool gifts for me, please add this Guitar Hero Air Guitar Rocker to the list. Its a belt buckle that plays pre-recorded tracks when you wave the special pick in front of it. So awesome! Watch this video and tell me you don’t want one too! Speaking of Guitar Hero, with this T-shirt you can take guitar hero wherever you go. Wear your shread!
Fox and NBC breaking free of the tyranny that is iTunes, have formed a new online streaming partnership called Hulu. The service allows you to watch their shows and shows from their affiliates (FX, USA, SciFi, etc) as well as several movies. Other companies have already begun to jump onto the bandwagon. It will be interesting to see if this new media coalition can compete with the digital wild west that is YouTube, but this kind of competition only benefits the consumers. My main hang up with Hulu is that it has ads EVERYWHERE. One cool feature is that you can clip the best parts out of your favorite TV shows and movies. Check out this scene I clipped from one of my favorite shows Arrested Development, its entitled Afternoon Delight.
To “rick roll” someone, is to trick them into clicking on a Rick Astley video from YouTube. This phenomenon is absolutely huge on most of the bigger message boards. Recently a couple of my friends and I have been having IM wars with the losers getting rick roll’d, it has been tremendous fun. Well apparently yesterday was a sort of a holiday in the Rick Roll Universe as it was the 20th anniversary of Never Gonna Give You Up.
While Kari might disagree, I am proclaiming this guy the biggest Star Wars nerd in the universe. Two thing I know for sure, he has the largest collection of action figures that I’ve ever seen, and I’m very, very, jealous. His collection contains over 2000 loose figures with an additional 800 that are still in the boxes. No word on whether or not his collection contains Ponda Bobba w/ detachable arm.
This weekend I attended Tony’s wedding in Kansas City. KG, Steve, Melissa, and I hit the road early Saturday morning and arrived at the KC Super 8 sometime around 1:30 in beautiful Parkville, MO. I arrived at the chapel a little later to get into my tux and to help keep Tony calm on his big day. The ceremony was very nice, and the reception was a blast. At one point we were able to organize a Professor Dance-Off which featured Tony’s new bride who is a Math Professor at UMKC, and several of her colleagues. The St. Louis crew, of course, was all pulling for our favorite Physics nerd, Dr. Alex Silvius. You can see a few of the wedding pictures I took with my iPhone here on my Flickr page.
The trailer for the new M. N. Shyamalan movie is available online. After seeing Lady in the Water, I’m hoping the surprise twist in this movie is that it doesn’t suck. The premise The Happening seems pretty cool. Some kind of cataclysmic event has triggered mass suicides around the country. Looks promising! I can deal with this movie not being as good as The Sixth Sense or Unbreakable just as long as its better than Lady in the Water. Even Paul Giamatti couldn’t save this stinker.
Here’s a picture of the rockin’ Reiters, co-founders of the band Nothing But Gingers.
There has been a firesale on detachable red goatees in the St. Louis area as the Cardinals have decided to part ways with the iconic Scott Spiezio.
Here’s to the finest rock ‘n roll Clown working today. The best of Dr. Rockzo. (season 1)
Update: I almost forgot to mention one of the greatest moments of the entire weekend. Tony has been taking dancing lessons for quite some time and what a prefect way to debut his skills than with the first dance of the evening. With a little help from Journey’s Open Arms (marvelous choice) Tony skillfully glided across the dance floor with new bride in tow.
On Saturday morning I attended the grand opening of the Hughes Intensive Training (H.I.T.) Gym. Founded by UFC fighter Matt Hughes and EliteXC middle-weight champ, Robbie Lawler, the gym is located across the river in Granite City, IL. The event attracted well over 400 people, and showcased a brand new state of the art training facility. Check out my Flickr if you want to see a few of the blurry photos I took from the weekend. The new MMA school is open to everyone of all skill levels. Whether you’re interested in just training weights and cardio or you want to train along side a UFC champ, its a unique opportunity for people of metro St. Louis.
Speaking of Flickr, I was able to find an application that will allow me to send photos from my phone directly into Flickr. Watch this space, as more photos should start appearing.
Sunday night I watched Into The Wild. I had heard the premise of this movie and had been dying to see it for quite some time. The film follows the life of Chris McCandless on a journey to find himself, a trip that leads him into the Alaskan wilderness. Based on the short story Death of an Innocent, it documents Chris’ terminal case of wanderlust and follows him on a kayaking trip into Mexico, a short stay in South Dakota working on a grain farm, and finally to Alaska where he eventually succumbs to starvation. The lush landscapes and Emile Hirsch’s acting paint a beautiful picture of this man’s life. This is the type of movie that forces you to do a self inventory of your own life, and makes quite an impression on you.
Looks like even the World of Warcraft developers like Portal, as the Weighted Companion Cube is making a cameo in this week’s Valentine’s Day festivities.
Rose, one of my Lan Party buddies is having some customer service issues with VIORE. Apparently his VIORE television stopped working shortly after the warranty date and he’s made several attempts to contact them directly without much success. Their lack of service has troubled him so much that he’s created a I Hate VIORE website. Good luck Josh! Fight the man!
In case anyone was keeping track, Friday February 15th is International “That’s What She Said” Day. This unofficial holiday encourages everyone to use the phrase in conversation as much as possible on Friday.
The trailer for the movie based on the video game Far Cry is now online and available for consumption. Its not often that the video game looks better than the movie, a big thanks to Uwe Boll for making that happen. This movie is a Far Cry from the source material … huh huh
The trailer for Hellboy 2 is making its rounds online and looks absolutely terrific. The first Hellboy was a surprise hit, and left fans of the comic begging for more. Guillermo Del Toro is quickly becoming one of my favorite actors for his unusually dark style, and amazing visuals. This movie is coming out in a summer thats already packed with geek favorites like Iron Man, a new Hulk Movie, Indiana Jones IV, and many others.
Team Fortress achievements anyone can get, courtesy of Something Awful. My favorite: “This is why we can’t have nice things” - While playing an engineer, ignore a teammate’s turret while its getting blasted to pieces in plain sight. I think I’ve been on the other end of this achievement several times, especially when Nate is on your team.
Speaking of TF2, an update was put onto Steam this week fixing a few exploits and adding a new spin on a classic map. There is also a rumored update in the works that will add unlockable weapons (similar to Call of Duty 4), and will be the first of many “class tweaks.”
Tracy Morgan + Jackass = Funny. Check out this video of manic comedian Tracy Morgan putting his own spin on things with his own Jackass style video.
Super Smash Bros Brawl is out in Japan and will be stateside in a matter of weeks. This is the “next gen” version of one of the most popular Game Cube games ever. Sure to be a mega seller on a platform that is desperate for quality games. I am really fond of the GC version, and can’t wait for this one. The only problem is that nobody I know really likes this game, and I struggle to find someone to play with.
A huge UFC event this weekend on the eve of Superbowl XLII (thats 42 to the leighperson.) The fightcard features two veteran heavyweights competing for the vacant UFC title, as well as the debut of the human juggernaut, Brock Lesnar. Brock was 33-0 as an amateur high school wrestler, and the 2000 NCAA heavyweight champion posting a 106-5 record in four years of college. Despite the fact he spent three years wrestling for the WWE, this guy is an absolute beast of a wrestler and should make a splash in the heavyweight division. The UFC has decided to give him a baptism by fire by putting him against former champion and jiu-jitsu expert Frank Mir in his first match. Here’s the video for Brock’s actual first match. It wasn’t much of a contest, with Lesnar overwhelming an under equipped Korean fighter.
Somebody with a Rambo fetish, and way too much time in their hands has created a 24-barrel, rubber band minigun, code named The Disintegrator. While its somewhat slow to load, this thing fires so fast that you will hands down win every office cubicle war. Check out the video to see this thing in action, words don’t really describe just how awesome it is.
Take the post-apocalyptic anarchy of Max Max and mix it with virus stricken Great Britian of 28 Weeks Later and you get the plot for Doomsday. This movie looks like it has real potential, but I said the same thing about Underworld and was greatly disappointed. Check out the trailer though, its worth a quick watch.
Apple just revealed their new MacBook Air at Macworld 2008. Sure its thin and stylish, but the thing has a 13-inch screen, and for $1800 you’d think it would come with some kind of DVD/CD drive. This thing may be lighter than air, but it sure is heavy on the old wallet. I think I’ll stick with my iPhone as my token Apple product.
Figure Prints is one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen. For only $99 you can get a custom statue of your World of Warcraft character. The website allows you to login, print and pose your character, and they’ll create a 3d resin statue of your guy. If I still played the game I would totally have one of these sitting on my desk. Check out Penny Arcade’s take on the subject.
Allow me to gush for a moment on the coolest new show on TV. The Sarah Connor Chronicles is nearly perfect. It fits nicely in the Terminator continuum and has great special effects, and decent acting. Beside the fact the actor who plays John Connor is a little weak, and Linda Hamilton’s replacement has enormous shoes to fill, the cast is pretty good. If you were a fan of Firefly you’ll notice a familiar face, the actress who played River stars as the female Terminator charged with protecting John Connor. Having seen only two episodes it would appear they have plenty of material to work with, lets just hope Fox doesn’t give this show the same fate as Firefly.
Trying hard not to turn this into a Vincent Couture fan site, but here’s one more picture of the cutest cat ever. If you like seeing funny cat pictures check out I Can Has Cheezeburger?
Team Fortress 2 done in Lego. As I’ve always said, things are always a little bit cooler when made out of Legos: Batman, Lego Star Wars, and now this. All I have to say is Lego my sentry gun!
On Sunday, Kari and I, along with the Guttmans, traveled to House Springs to pickup a new addition to the family. We adopted our new friend Vincent from the Open Door Animal Shelter. He’s a happy, healthy, 18 month old domestic shorthair, and he is so happy to have a home. Animal Control had delivered him and another cat to the Shelter a couple months ago, we were very excited to take him home once we met him. I’ve never had a cat before, being mildly allergic, so this has been a unique experience. It hasn’t taken me very long to warm up to Vincent, and I can’t imagine not having my little furry friend around.
The Iowa caucuses were last night with new Republican front runner Mike Huckabee taking the Iowa polls. So what was the main factor for Huckabee winning Iowa? Was it his strong conservative platform, his stance on gun control, or was it Chuck Norris.
I’m back at work after 11 consecutive days of vacation, its a rough transition. While on break Kari and I had Christmas in Creve Coeur, Christmas in Eminence, and New Year’s in Hoopston, IL. A little bit of traveling but well worth it. All of my Christmas photos can be found here, and the photos from Hoopston are in the Random 2008 section.
Christmas was great, I got to see almost my entire family, with the exception of a couple aunts and uncles, and a handful of cousins. We setup our Rock Band at the Cabin in Eminence, and had a great time playing through the track list. The trip to Eminence was highlighted by possibly the best Christmas gift I’ve ever received. I was completely speechless when I opened an 8gb iPhone. My brother decided to regift the item to me knowing I would be able to appreciate it more. In turn I gave him my Samsung Blackjack and my old 30gb iPod. KG got me a Sirius radio and the special edition of Assasin’s Creed, and I received many other great gifts as well.
I spent a lot of my break playing through Assassin’s Creed. Its such a fun game that allows you to navigate recreations of ancient Jerusalem, Acre, and Damascus. On of the cool features is the movement system thats based on Parkour. Parkour is an activity with the aim of moving from one point to another as efficiently and quickly as possible. Checked out this wicked video of some Parkour athletes running a muck in an urban environment, its pretty dang cool.
Three games that might challenge World of Warcraft for supremacy in the MMO market. Of the three listed in the article, Warhammer: Age of Reckoning is the most attractive to me. I’ve been following the progress of WAR for quite some time, and I’m eager to try this out. I’ve been trying unsuccessfully to get into the beta for several months.
Can’t decide who to vote for in the upcoming Presidential Election? Let Glassbooth do the trouble for you. Take a short survey, and it will tell you which of the candidates from both parties most closely matches your answers
American Gladiators is back! Sunday night is the return to TV for the beloved sports/combat game show. As someone who used to watch this show every weekend as a kid, I’m a little curious how this will look. Considering the most popular women’s MMA fighter is one of the Gladiators, there’s no reason not to watch.
Matt2 clued me into this new site called Imeem. Its sort of a mix of MySpace, YouTube, and Mp3.com. I created a playlist of my favorite songs from 2007, so if you’re curious what I’m listening too, check it out!
