1st and 10 (Week 4)

thoughts from Week 3

Welcome back, Nawlins!

if only emotional highs could fix the area ...

- New Orleans Saints, 3-0. Houston Texans, 0-3. Are you rioting down in the Panhandle yet? Anyone burning Charlie Casserly effigies?

- Madden Curse strikes again!



now this is absolute reality TV (Redskins @Texans)

- Jeremy Shockey, shut up.

- Bill Belichick may be a cold hearted genius, and that may have won 3 SuperBowls, but will it also be his Waterloo?


wonder what this guy did with the bear after the game (Bears @Vikings)

- Chris Simms, tough SOB.

not like this SOB (who competed with Anna Nicole Smith for creating a media frenzy this week):

3 Letters for You, T.O.!

i was more interested in Jason Whitlock leaving ESPN/Page2, and his feud with Scoop Jackson.


and the best play of Week 3 *s*

well done, Mike Patterson (all 292 lbs of you)


Week 4 Prognostications
Indianapolis at NY Jets ... not in the Colts' class yet but will fight
New Orleans at Carolina ... will be Saints' first loss
Minnesota at Buffalo ... Bills will be better this week
Arizona at Atlanta ... Falcons will run better this week
San Diego at Baltimore ... the Philip Rivers balloon bursts
Miami at Houston ... hey, let's just root for an upset here
San Francisco at Kansas City ... Chiefs by a hair. or inches.
Dallas at Tennessee ... i'll be shocked if Cowboys lose this
Detroit at St. Louis ... still nada for Lions. try 2 TDs, Roy.
Jacksonville at Washington ... care to make another statement game, Jags?
Cleveland at Oakland ... puh-leaze.
New England at Cincinnati ... Brady has lots of problems
Seattle at Chicago ... Bears' secondary have to be very good
Green Bay at Philadelphia ... not in Lincoln Field, Mr. Favre

Last Week: 8-6
Overall: 26-20

the man behind the iron mask

Tony? Anthony Stark, is that you?



well, they announced today that Robert Downey Jr will play billionaire inventor/industrialist and alcoholic playboy Tony Stark in the upcoming Iron Man to be directed by Jon Favreau. to Downey's credit, he's had his own demons himself plus he's a great character actor anyway, so it might not be a bad choice (thank goodness they didnt go with Looney Cruise or Brad Pitt).

you can bet the armor will have its own distillation/fermentation system so Tony can down shots while in the battlefield. juuuuuuust kidding, kids!

zuney tune

just like their ventures in internet browsers, search engines and gaming consoles, Microsoft joins the game way too late. let's look at the givens:
$250 for 30Gb ... really, is that gonna sway you from a similar iPod? or any cheaper wannabe?
FM Radio tuner ... who listens to the radio these days? FM is dead. if it came with a free Sirius or XM subscription, that would be better.
Wireless connectivity ... but only to share songs with other Zunes. good luck in finding another within 5 miles.
$14.99 monthly music subscription pass ... for listening purposes only, and when the pass expires, you wont be able to access your tunes anymore. WTF??? that's high comedy.
Songs to own cost 79 Microsoft Points or roughly $1 ... dude, i never even buy shit in iTunes.
Syncs with xBox 360 ... oh yeah. that's very helpful.


the Zune will still use a new DRM (not the annoyingly-named PlaysForSure DRM), which already turns off the huge majority of those who own iPods and don't give a frak about DRM.

i'm still waiting for the open gadget that: plays all formats of music and videos, combine the best features of a blackberry and a PDA phone, and has a battery life longer than the circumference of the earth.

bottom line: only the AOL crowd and gadget-anal geeks will even think of buying one.

Microsoft's already gonna lose money - that's a given (xBox anyone?). and how long till viruses and hackers and spyware get into it? i reckon not too long.

i believe i can spy

James Bond DVD Collection Review #10
The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) - Lewis Gilbert

The Plot
Someone's hijacked 3 nuclear submarines, one from each of the main players of the Cold War - the US, the Brits and the Soviets. Bond is called in to investigate, while the Russians send their own agent - a female agent codenamed XXX, no less. And you know Bond's gonna hit that, when they get to work together. All that interagency uh, cooperation, probably made the warhawks and propagandists on both sides go into fits. Anyway, all signs point to a crazy (and wealthy) industrialist being the mastermind (where do all these people come from? is Bill Gates like this?) - and he wants to terraform the Earth so he can create a new one beneath the sea. Okay, why not just dive in and live there, asshole? Stop bothering us. And oh, thanks a lot for unleashing a certain "shark" on us.

Grade: A-

Locales
Egypt, Sardinia, and the on-sea sites - subs, a mammoth supertanker (the inside sets were built from scratch) and the villain's high-tech submersible and collosal headquarters
Grade: B+

The Man
Roger Moore
Moore stated in the documentary feature that the writers wanted to strip Bond away from the Connery cloth, where He-Man routinely roughs up his women (noted in my last review). Here, Moore turns the charm up, sneaks in a few nonplussed looks, and totally makes the character his own.
Grade: A

The Villain(s)
Karl Stromberg (Curt Jurgens) - Think Jacques Costeau crossed with Bill Gates money with a healthy dose of dementia. And he has thousands of underlings willing to do his bidding (yes, even kill). So who's crazier - the nut or those who follow the nut? I mean this is probably how Scientology operates. But for all his money and resources, he can't kill Bond. He can freakin' disable and capture 3 nuclear subs from superpowers but he can't whack a ladies man. Bond is much more man than him. The fact that Bond shot him in the balls kinda drives home the point.

Jaws (Richard Kiel) - Became one of the enduring icons of the Bond series, if not of cinema itself. The character design was pure genius. Cross a 7'2" giant with a mean streak, steel-capped shark teeth and the DNA of a cockroach, and you got Jaws. I mean, you could probably the nuke the area where he is, and he'll still crawl out from the ground. What if he had a healing factor? Frak!!! This was Wolverine before Wolverine!!!


He's so badass he even outchomps a shark (ok, they cheated - let's see him take on real full-sized Great White). Kiel, a gentle giant in real life, made such an impact that he would return in the next Bond movie. You could say he struck while the uh, metal was hot.

Sandor (Milton Reid) - A lesser aide-de-camp to Stromberg. He could have avoided falling off a Cairo building if only he took my advice and double-teamed Bond with Jaws. They never ever learn.

Aziz Fekkesh (Nadim Sawalha) - point man for black market goodies, like the microfilm for the plans of submarine tracking device stolen from Stromberg. Died in the Giza catacombs at the uh, mouth of Jaws.

Max Kalba (Vernon Dobtcheff) - Black market merchant who wanted to sell the plans for the tracking device. Again, died at the ... oh, you get the damn idea.
Grade: A

The Girl(s)
Major Anya Amasova (Barbara Bach) - Despite her rep as the Soviets' premiere field agent, she's as docile as a lamb, answers questions like the bookish class nerd, and we never see her kicking butt. So when she finds out that Bond killed her lover prior to this mission, she declares that she's gonna kill Bond after this mission is over (after of course, falling for his charms) - and of course no one believes her. Not even Bond.

Barbara Bach arrives as one of the prettier (and shapelier) Bond girls. This was probably the highlight of her career, as it was bookended by Italian B-Movies. At least she bagged a Starr. Ringo Starr, that is.

"I am Agent XXX. In my country that means 30, not the perverted notion you are thinking, you pervert!"

Naomi (Caroline Munro) - Stromberg's scantily-clad assistant (hey, she works on the water) after he fed the last one to a shark. Came close to killing Bond, but no cigar. What was her prior occupation? A helicopter gunship pilot in Vietnam?

Felicca (Olga Bisera) - More cannon fodder. Solely to delay Bond and set him up for a kill. Of course, she gets it from uh, behind.

The Girl in the Log Cabin (Sue Vanner) - Was the object of M's statement when he orders Bond to "pull out", so to speak ... of the mission, that is.

Hotel Receptionist (Valerie Leon) - Shown to be fooling around with Bond in the Deleted Scenes of the DVD, amping up Anya's rage at him after she discovers he killed her Russian boyfriend. juuuuuuust kidding.
Grade: A-

Gadgets
After eschewing the gadgets in The Man With The Golden Gun, the producers felt Bond wasn't Bond without them. So they're back with a vengeance.

The highlight would be the Lotus Esprit that doubles as a mini-submarine. Aside from proving itself in high-speed chases, it can also outrun submersibles underwater, and has offensive weaponry to boot. The car emerging from beneath the waves in the midst of a normal day at the beach is a definite cheer-inducing scene in any Bond movie.

Bond also uses a ski pole gun, a miniviewer for microfilms, and - egad! - a ticker-tape watch (remember the Dymo old-school labels?) ... good thing he wasn't using it to check the stock market. Bond also uses a jetski, quite futuristic for 1977 as it was still known as a 'wetbike', to rescue Anya in the movie's final scene.

Other goodies that Q showed off, but were never used, includes a spring-loaded seat to toss Middle Eastern radicals into the air while they watched belly dancers, a hookah pipe/gun, a saddle spike (ouch) and my favorite, a floating magnetized tray that was used to decapitate a dummy. Now that should have been used to dispatch Stromberg.

The bad guys, with their supertanker that 'swallowed' disabled subs (shades of You Only Live Twice), also had minisubs and tricycles whose sidecar functioned as a missile. I mean, aside from Bond, who did they intend to chase with it?
Grade: A

Bond Moments
The introductory pre-credit scene where Bond skis off a cliff, and with only the whispering wind as an aural backdrop, gently freefalls until his parachute opens (as the Union Jack, natch), presumably drew roars and raves from the audience back then. Such an opener became de facto standard for the rest of the series, kicking off its own "can you top this" contest for the most ridiculous yet awe-inspiring audience-grabber. It never became so clear to me as much as it did in Goldeneye.

Never leave the car keys in the car. Especially when you're working with a rival spy against a common enemy.

Stromberg eats at a 30-foot long dinner table, and he has a custom-made gun with the barrel extending up to the other end. He tries to kill Bond, fails miserably and then inexplicably the barrel is now just a hollow tube, because Bond just shoots him back in reverse using his own Walther PPK. Even more puzzling, Stromberg never makes a move to get out of the seat, run or escape. He probably was too amazed that Bond dodged his shot.

Atlantis, Stromberg's hideaway beneath the sea, strangely looks like a 4-legged spider. Presumably, it will be the center of his operations as he presides over a new world. But where the hell is he gonna get industrial resources to build such cities if the rest of the world is a nuclear wasteland? All that trouble for one man's wish to be left alone? He could have bought his own island and stayed there.


3 minutes is enough to avert nuclear disaster.

Grade: A-

One Liners

M: Moneypenny, where's 007?
Moneypenny: He's on a mission sir. In Austria.
M: Well, tell him to pull out. Immediately.
(scene cuts to Bond just finishing up with The Girl in the Log Cabin)

Q: Right. Now pay attention, 007. I want you to take great care of this equipment. There are one or two rather special accessories ...
Bond: Q, have I ever let you down?
Q: Frequently!

Hotel Receptionist: I have a message for you.
Bond: I think you just delivered it.

(admiring either Naomi or the boat)
Bond: What a handsome craft ... such lovely lines.

Bond: In my country, Major, a condemned man is usually allowed one final request
Anya: Granted
Bond: Let's get out of these wet things ...?
(Goooooooaaaaaaaaaaaallllll!!!!)

Minister of Defense: Bond! What do you think you're doing?
Bond: Keeping the British end up, sir.

Let's see who gets offended with this!

Bond: When one is in Egypt, one should delve deeply into its treasures.

Grade: B

Overall
From Carly Simon memorably performing Nobody Does It Better until the explosive finish and the final wink-wink scene, the Bond series found its legs again with its 10th outing. Sure, it cops from previous ones (skiing from On Her Majesty's Secret Service, preposterous hijacking methods from You Only Live Twice, train scene from From Russia With Love), but Roger Moore has legit claim to the role as anyone else with his performance here. Lewis Gilbert, in his second Bond go-round, is in his element as he used to direct various sea-themed war films.
Grade: A-

While Gorbachev was still Chairman of Youth Affairs:

That's it! The Cold War is Over! Why didn't we think of this earlier!?!?

The Mutant Quotient

I am giving the floor to one of my favorite sportswriters, Gregg Easterbrook, whose off-tangent ruminations in his weekly TMQ* column included my favorite mutants.

Miss Rogue, Your CT Scan Is Back. Would You Have Any Idea What This Internal Organ Is?
I want to know what kind of vitamins Magneto takes! They must be good vitamins because his powers increase movie-by-movie. In the first "X-Men" flick, Magneto could control ferrous metals within about 100 feet. Captured at the movie's end, he was imprisoned in a plastic cell reached by a 100-foot plastic bridge; the guards in the watch-room beyond the bridge were using metal, but Magneto's powers did not reach that far. In the second X flick, Magneto was able to snatch the crippled, plummeting X Jet out of the air and save it; the plane started decelerating hundreds of feet above the ground, indicating Magneto has increased his range. In the third movie, this summer's "The Last Stand," Magneto was able to levitate the entire 4,200-foot main span of the Golden Gate Bridge. Set aside what the main span of the Golden Gate Bridge must weigh -- it's nearly a mile long, meaning Magneto can project his power a much greater distance than previously. You can check the Golden Gate Bridge's live webcam to see if any mutant armies are crossing.

The X-Men movies have been the most entertaining Hollywood superhero stuff in years. In order to rationalize another sequel, I will even swallow everyone coming back to life, though coming-back-to-life is sci-fi's worst cliché. Obviously X III sets up Professor Xavier coming back to life. My guess is everyone comes back. Immediately after the movie my 11-year-old, Spenser, pointed out Logan never found Scott's body, just his glasses, while if Jean Grey is more powerful than Professor X and the Prof. could teleport his consciousness an instant before physical death, why couldn't Jean teleport hers too? The Last Stand was the abbreviated title for movie posters. The full title was Don't Worry News Corporation Shareholders, There Is No Way This Actually Is the Last Stand.

Of course, one must suspend disbelief when it comes to superheroes. But what TMQ always wonders about X-Men, Superman, the Flash and the rest is: Where are the body organs that support their powers? I'm willing to believe a superhero can fly, but where is the organ that provides propulsion? Supposedly Earth's yellow star activated in Kal-El powers that he would not have had under the red sun of Krypton. But still, some internal organ must produce the energy for his heat vision and the thrust for his flying and so on. In "Superman Returns," Supe can even fly faster than light, a power he lacked in the comics; apparently some organ too small to even bulge under his skin propels him to warp speed. Really, there must be some physical point of origin for a superhero's power. Storm must have a body organ that projects force fields that control weather. Iceman must have a body organ that can reduce temperature very rapidly, plus shed heat so Bobby doesn't boil. Where in their physiques are these organs?

Beyond that, the X-Men premise defies scientific thinking about natural selection, which holds that new organs develop very slowly across hundreds of generations. Assume some body organ can allow Shadowcat to walk through walls or Colossus to change his skin to steel: it's unimaginable such an organ could arise de novo in a single mutation. Many generations of relatively minor mutations would be required before a novel body organ could come into full functionality. Biologists from Richard Goldschmidt of the early 20th century to Stephen Jay Gould of the late 20th have speculated there is an as-yet-undiscovered natural mechanism that enables accelerated evolution. Otherwise it's hard to imagine how creatures lived through long chains of generations with still-evolving incomplete organs, since incomplete organs should be a fitness disadvantage and thus render their possessors less likely to reproduce. Unless the X-Men are an argument for intelligent design! The intelligent-design crowd believes natural selection can produce minor alterations in existing forms but cannot produce new organs or new species; a higher intellect controls that. The sudden, drastic evolutionary jumps depicted in the X-Men movies and comics sure feel like intelligent design. In fact one of the most interesting X-Men, Nightcrawler, asserts that the very rapid evolution he and his friends experience could not occur naturally and must be the result of God intervening for reasons not yet known.

Left unresolved by X III is whether Mystique, played by the scrumptious Rebecca Romijn, was nude. In her blue mutant form, Mystique seemed to be wearing a blue thong bikini. But when Romijn lost her powers, her blue skin turned the Caucasian shade and she collapsed to the ground naked. Did her bikini lose its powers too? In another scene, Wolverine's shirt was torn by projectiles that ripped his flesh. His miraculous powers healed the flesh - when we saw Logan an instant later, his shirt looked brand new. Was he wearing a jerkin of self-healing wool made from mutant sheep?

X3 on DVD out Oct. 3. $18 regular edition, $26 special edition on J&R, only for first few days.

* that's Tuesday Morning Quarterback for you fellas at home

you are gold!

continuing my James Bond review from 2 years back. why did i stop anyway? oh, that's right, The Man With The Golden Gun disc was unreadable at some point, and i just didn't want to proceed further without completing the thing. now it seems to work fine again (actually no, the bugger still stopped 3/4ths into the disc so i had to find a way).

with less than 8 weeks before the release of Casino Royale, i'd better get crackin'.


the Lee and Tattoo Comedy Show came to a grinding halt because of discriminatory labor practices - Tattoo only got a third of Lee's salary

James Bond DVD collection review #9
The Man with the Golden Gun (1974) - Guy Hamilton
The Plot
Someone is out to whack a scientist who has a design to harness solar energy into industrial-scale power. This assassin uses golden bullets, charges a million bucks for a kill ... and has a thing for James Bond (yeah, they kind of distribute Bond's dossier to every bad guy on the planet). And not only that - he's actually more of a threat to Bond's rep as the ultimate lady killer - he has freakin' three nipples!!!
Grade: C+

Locales
Beirut, Macau, Hong Kong, the insides of the HMS Queen Elizabeth, Bangkok, and some private island
Grade: B-

The Man
Roger Moore. almost trying to supress a smirk for most of the movie.
Grade: B

The Villain(s)
Francisco Scaramanga (Christopher Lee) - the Man with the Golden Gun, a master of the one-shot deal. Wonder what happens if he misses? That's right, he dies. Lee actually steals the movie from Moore here, and parlayed it into a longer career as well. The future Saruman/Count Dooku already showed he can play villains with terrifying ease.

Nick Nack (Hervé Villechaize) - Scaramanga's aide-de-camp, butler, bodyguard and possibly life coach as well. the diminutive Frenchmidget Villechaize paved the way for vertically-challenged actors - Weng Weng (who is said to be popular in France), Mini-Me (who probably isn't), Tony Cox (Bad Santa) and Peter Dinklage (The Station Agent), to name a few - to have substantial parts in films. But hold on - given his stature, its a wonder he didn't complain taking orders when his boss can do the same shit in less time. Villechaize, said to have some Filipino roots himself, made his mark in TV's Fantasy Island, before committing suicide back in 1993.

Hai Fat (Richard Loo) - stereotypical evil industrialist type who's eyeing this solar gadget thingy, and whose brains isn't enough to deduce that he should kill Bond asap, and not send him off to his private dojo to trade kicks and punches with ...

Chula (Chan Yiu Lam) - stereotypical martial arts bully, who thinks he's the bees knees, both to his sensei and the ladies
Grade: B+

The Girl(s)
Andrea Anders (Maud Adams) - Scaramanga's girl-everyday, who can't stand him so much that she sends a golden bullet to Bond so he can rescue her from her dreary lifestyle. So why the hell did she get into that relationship with a hitman in the first place. Geez, i don't understand women. At least Bond got his uhm point in the moment she threw herself at him. 'Cause you never know when a stray golden bullet might hit you. True enough, she gets offed in the midst of a Thai kickboxing match. But Adams would return 9 years later as a better-named character. K-Ching!

Mary Goodnight (Britt Ekland) - the poster girl for blonde+blue-eyed Swedes plays MI6's agent-in-place in HK. Mary had the hots for Bond for years and finally she gets what she wants ... but not before enduring the humiliation of being bundled by 007 inside the closet because Andrea Anders knocked on the door of his hotel room (and knocked boots with him thereafter).

Saida (Carmen du Sautoy) - Lebanese bellydancer who kept the the remains of the golden bullet that killed 002 as a lucky charm on her bully button. Of course you know Bond had to retrieve that somehow.

Chew Mee (Francoise Therry) - With only a few lines (and even less clothing), nothing further is known about this honey. Get those search engines going!
Grade: A-

Gadgets
Not much in use here, except for that homing device used by Goodnight to track Scaramanga's car - homing devices are a dime a dozen. And the fake 3rd nipple to gain access to Hai Fat? That really didn't get him anywhere, did it? Just an invitation to get beat up at dinnertime.

Scaramanga, of course, had his Golden Gun, his high-tech junk and his flying car (which looks ridiculous).

Methinks they were toning down the gadgetry here (and upping Q's intelligence work), just to establish Bond's resourcefulness and street-smarts (much like what they'll be doing in Casino Royale.
Grade: C-

Bond Moments
Who else would be vacationing in Bangkok during the motorboat chase scene? The redneck Sheriff JW Pepper, that's who! not to mention he gets "drafted into service" as Bond hijacks a car supposed to be test-driven by the cop.

What's with the stereotypical Asian sidekick? Oh yes, this was the height of the British Empire (snort). Lt. Hip (Soon Teck-Oh, below) even has a couple of teenage nieces whose only roles in the movie are to make sure Bond isn't beaten up further, and also to lend a subtle hint of ahhh, Oriental delights. I think the original script had them working at the Bottoms Up club. Naughty, naughty.

Hey, babyboomers! Recognize me from kungfu chopsuey flicks on TV?

Nick Nack: "Where could yourhh gun be, Mithh-ter Thhcaramanga?" (more of a moment than a quote)

MI6, avoiding Chinese and American spies, sets up shop in the dark recesses of the Queen Elizabeth, an ocean liner that sank in HK Harbor back in 1972. See what history can teach you, kids?

Nick Nack dressed in a ... what do you call that pseudo-Japanese midget demon schtick? And he had a pitchfork and would have gone down in history as the one to kill Bond, but noooooo ... Mr. Fat (Mr. Fat?? shouldn't it be Mr. Hai??) stops him.

Bond eschewing the rules in martial arts duels and just taking out the guy right at the bowing part. Did that not start a trend (see Jones, Indiana)?

And there's this persistent urchin on the canal selling a carved wooden elephant for 100 baht. He gets to Bond and it goes down to 20. Bond promises him 25,000 baht if he could get the malfunctioning motor going. Urchin does so triumphantly. Bond just pushes him off his motorboat. He's so mean! Nyahahaha.


Pleased To Meet You. Bond wont be invited as a VAW speaker anytime soon.

And speaking of mean, the first time he meets Andrea, he roughs her up - twists her arm, slaps her, grabs her by the robe neckline. She probably thinks its a lot better than living with a hitman. True. Scaramanga did shoot her later. But that was for sleeping around. I really don't get women. (note: Bond probably doesn't too, ergo his rep of mistreating women. Duh.)

and this says it all (circa 1974, this was just flat-out gutsy!):

Grade: B+

One Liners
(on M's concern that Scaramanga might be out to get Bond)
Bond: Who'd pay a million dollars to have me killed?
M: Jealous husbands! Outraged chefs! Humiliated tailors! The list is endless!

Bond: Moneypenny, you are better than a computer!
Moneypenny: In all sorts of ways ... but you never take advantage of them.

(after Bond swallows the golden bullet from Saida's belly button)
Saida: I lost my charm!
Bond: Not from where I'm standing.

Bond: He even invited me for dinner. He must've found me tit-tillating. (throws away fake nipple)

Sheriff JW Pepper: You just try that in my bayou, boy! I'd haul your ass!
(which he could have done, in the last movie)

Scaramanga: Fat has just resigned. I am the new Chairman of the Board.
(goes outside)
Scaramanga: Fat always did like that mausoleum. Put him in it.

Bond: Good morning, how's the water?
Girl: Why don't you come in and find out?
Bond: Sounds very tempting, miss...
Girl: Chew Mee.
Bond: Really?
Bond: Well, there's only one small problem, I have no swimming trunks.
Girl: Neither have I.
(and then that killjoy Hai Fat interrupts the festivities)


Bond: What made you change your mind?
Mary Goodnight: I'm weak. (goooooaaaaaaaalllll!!)


M: Bond? Bond, are you there? Goodnight?
Bond: She's just coming, sir.
M: Goodnight? Goodnight? Goodnight!
Bond: Good night, sir.
(you have to watch that)


Grade: B

Overall
One of the lesser Bond moneymakers. Bond didn't seem threatened at all. A veritable walk in the park.
Grade: B



Bond couldn't figure out why there were headlights in the bathroom ...

V.I.Deo is there

now that i got my PS2 back, it was time to address the hassle of yanking cables out of my 3 year-old TV to switch between the game console and my DVD. prior to this, i was using a simple RadioShack selector switch which didn't have any component video jacks. for a while it was ok to walk over and press a button to switch between the two.

i was considering a receiver for awhile now, but the limited space in my shoebox apartment wasn't quite enticing to make full use of a receiver (it equates to the need for better speakers and thus, home theater planning for a space that barely enough and isn't mine anyway). besides, funds are hard to come by these days, and i believe in getting what you pay for, so i'd rather go for a higher end machine that will last awhile, but if there's a bargain for the short term, why not?

enter the Pelican.

we moseyed over to J&R (NYC's best gadget place - lucky to have been working 10 mins away from there all these years) and look up this crude $19.99 selector switch we saw on their website. but whoa! there's an even better version ... The Score System Selector Pro 2.0 (from Pelican Accessories, a company dedicated to gaming accessories).


somebody finally wised up to the fact that gadget-savvy people need more than your basic video hookups, so finally here's one with 5 device inputs (6 if you count the one in front) - complete component video, S-video and AV jacks for each. added bonus would be the LAN (ethernet) I/Os (making this a hub) and optical I/Os for future high-end devices.

its slim enough to be stackable (that's it sandwiched between my new DVD player and my old DVD/VCR combo)


granted its not made by any of the biggies, so the LCD display seems crude, but it does the job.


it also has a cute remote control, whose brushed metal casing reminds me of my college project, a remote-control switch for small appliances.


check that out, momma!!! (which means i need an xbox and a PS3 ... ok, ok, stop making screwed up faces)


more inputs .... gooooooooooooooooooood.


ok, maybe it was just a Pixar film and i'm imagining things, but i liked the bright vibrant colors ... wheeeee!


i've seen some negative reviews where they had faulty jacks, but this is a short-term (could be a long short-term) solution. so far, its worth the bang for my buck. a poor man's receiver, indeed.


The Score System Selector Pro 2.0
$100, J & R

1st and 10 (Week 3)

thoughts from Week 2

- Roy Williams, shut the fuck up.
- Jags blank Steelers, 0-9. i didn't watch the game, but the revered TMQ states that it was an exciting one. this then reminds of one of my games in Madden 07, where i played the Texans (yecch) against the Packers (yecch). David Carr sucked (or maybe its just me throwing a lot of INTs)! the Pack spotted us a 9-0 lead into the 3rd quarter. then i just pounded Domanick Davis at them (out for season in real life), and managed to get a TD. not to mention the Houston defense (no thanks to Super Mario) kept stopping the Pack offense as well, and not letting them get a TD. a 45 yd Kris Brown FG and several clock-eating runs later, i won ugly, 10-9. now i learned to appreciate a low-scoring game. Carr's postgame QB rating: 1.1. ugh.
- Bucs, Fins, 'Skins, Panthers, all 0-2. whudathunk?
- that fumble return TD by Tim Carter? sheer luck. as in.
- and they won despite Eli being sacked 8 times. that's David Carr-like.
- speaking of sacks, here's the cream; Baltimore, Chicago, Buffalo, Philly, Dallas, and Frisco(!) - all got more than 5.
- Chad Pennington, you teaser.
- the master is still The Master.
- if Peyton (Manning The Elder) can hang 43 on a team in the Playoffs, i'd reconsider my respect for him
- speaking of whom, his spinmeisters are really working overtime to get my respect (well, sometimes its funny and it works)
- and doesn't he have this ridiculously large neck?
- still celebrating: fantasy football owners who had 49er RB Frank Gore
- Joe Buck still looks every bit the tightass he is - how long till Terry and Howie stop putting up with him? can we have a WWE-like skit where Howie clotheslines him, then Terry whacks him with a chair? and then he'll drag himself to the cameras and scream "that's disgusting, shameless behavior!!!"


Week 3 prognostications
Carolina at Tampa Bay ... who gets to be 0-3?
Chicago at Minnesota ... Vikes' safe game may not be enough
Cincinnati at Pittsburgh ... might come down to the 4th Q
Green Bay at Detroit ... Favre showing some signs of life
Jacksonville at Indianapolis ... now this is the statement game
N.Y. Jets at Buffalo ... J.E.T.S., Jets, Jets, Jets!!!
Tennessee at Miami ... Nicky, Nicky, Nicky, you disappoint me
Washington at Houston ... Gibbs is probably thankful for this week
Baltimore at Cleveland ... the Ravens are back; Billick keeps his head
N.Y. Giants at Seattle ... payback time?
Philadelphia at San Francisco ... no Freak, have Frank, will Gore
St. Louis at Arizona ... Rams don't have the offense yet
Denver at New England ... the Pats always find a way
Atlanta at New Orleans ... electrify! Bush or Vick? enjoy!


Last Week: 9-7
Overall: 18-14

stars' Ki and Hutch

continuing our pastiche on dead rock stars on the playlist ... Michael Hutchence left behind a rock legacy big enough not to be filled for awhile. as the dynamic frontman for Australia's INXS, Hutchence had a Jim Morrison-quality to him that made him famous all over the world yet retained a dark edge to his persona. INXS hit its peak with its brand of rock/funk in the late 80's/early 90's - thanks to Hutchence, yours truly had his rockstar dreams (just not the hair, nor the voice, nor the talent, nor the ... oh shut up). three albums - Kick, X, and Live, Baby, Live are always in my iPod. with their subsequent decline, Hutchence's flirtation with the dark side became more public, his tawdry affair with Paula Yates (snatched from Mr.-Save-The-World Bob Geldof's clutches) resulted in a daughter, and perhaps the resulting depression led to his alleged suicide (although more signs pointed to autoerotic asphyxiation) in 1997, and the subsequent OD'ing of Yates from heroin 3 years later.

onstage, Hutchence was so full of life, and INXS' concerts and performances are already stuff of legend. it is sad that he chose to go out that way (one of his friends in his circle of life, Bono himself, wrote Stuck in A Moment That You Can't Get Out Of about his suicide). we think rockstars have their own world, but in that moment, they were just like us - the effect on the ki, or the Force binding us together, will be felt as one leaves us behind.


on The Heard:
Hands In The Air, 8 Ball
Losing My Religion, R.E.M.
More, Sisters of Mercy
Don't Mean Nothing, Richard Marx
Oye, Pit Bull
White Flag, Dido
Monorail, Orbital
The Richest Man In Babylon, Thievery Corporation
Memphis Soul Song, Uncle Kracker
I Feel Love, Vanessa Mae
I See You Baby (Fatboy Slim Mix), Groove Armada
The Great Commandment, Camouflage
How Men Are, Aztec Camera
Window To Your Soul, Delerium
The Closer I Get To You, Nina (feat Thor)
Touched By the Hand of God, New Order
Hip Hop Hooray, Naughty by Nature
Words, Missing Persons
Mercy Mercy Me, Michael McDonald
Shake It Up, The Cars
Take Me Home Tonight, Eddie Money
Beautiful Girl, INXS
Dogs of Lust, The The
La Tortura (Shaketon Remix), Shakira
Rumors, Timex Social Club
Diggin' on You, TLC
Tsinelas, Yano
Throb, Janet Jackson
I Will Love You, Fisher
Harder Better Faster Stronger (Jess And Crabbe Remix), Daft Punk
Words Get In The Way, Jewel
Foxy Lady, Jimi Hendrix
Expo `86, Death Cab For Cutie
Is It Any Wonder, Keane
This Woman's Work, Maxwell
Jessie's Girl, Rick Springfield
Cherub Rock, Smashing Pumpkins
Laid So Low (Tears Roll Down), Tears For Fears
Eyes Open Wide, Toad the Wet Sprocket
Let's Dance, David Bowie
Heat Of The Night, Bryan Adams
Say It Isn't So, Hall and Oates
So in Love, Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark
Five Years, Sugar Hiccup
She's A Beauty, The Tubes

morons

question: if an American came over to your respective countries, stood in a forum of your legislators and assorted countrymen, and ranted against you and insulted you, would you allow this to happen and not a lay a hand on the loudmouth?


didn't think so, assholes.

and oh, don't hide behind the U.N. just because its an independent entity, and the diplomatic immunity it may accord you while you are standing on its property. the land is still US territory. you are allowed to do this because of free speech, something you probably don't allow your own citizens to have. except when they're praising you.

oxymoron

there's nothing "civil" about a war.

especially not between superheroes.


Civil War #4. Art by Steve McNiven/Dexter Vines

spoilers:
that's Thor (though i had my suspicions from the get-go ... he wasn't talking Olde English) murdering the hero formerly known as Black Goliath (now just Goliath).

burning questions:
- is this Thor clone the one who picked up Mjolnir from last issue? very few can.
- Tony Stark has equalled or maybe exceeded Bruce Wayne as the preeminent cold, calculating chess master. as Hank Pym said "what kind of man combs his furniture for hair follicles and skin cells?"
- will Tony and Steve ever be friends again?
- and who's that mysterious figure in the rebels' lair?

finally, a crossover/summer event that's worthy of money.

that is, if Mark Millar pulls this off and avoids the cop-out of Tony Stark/Iron Man being alien-possessed, an evil clone, or a time-travelling substitute.

dahil sa iyo

thanks a lot for nothing, asshole.

Y tu esposa también!

rak n' roll

buzzword of the day: Lèse majesté

n. Lèse majesté (French expression, from the Latin Laesa maiestas or Laesae maiestatis (crimen), (crime of) injury to the Majesty; in English, also lese majesty or leze majesty) is the crime of violating majesty, an offense against the dignity of a reigning sovereign or against a state.

yes, yes ... its one of the things the government of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra is being accused of, after a successful coup d'etat less than 24 hours ago. Shinawatra is visiting NYC, so he can probably trade tales of woe with Iranian president/provocateur Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

1st and 10 (Week 2)

Week 2 prognostications


Carolina at Minnesota ... Smitty is back and so will the Cats
Buffalo at Miami ... no more limp-wristed flag throwing, Nicky
NY Giants at Philadelphia ... an NFC East slugfest! bring the popcorn!
New Orleans at Green Bay ... Reggie Bush! Reggie Bush! Reggie Bush!
Houston at Indianapolis ... if Mario isn't super, the Texan braintrust lied. i like Kubs' hair though.
Detroit at Chicago ... Lions winning in Windy City? nope.
Cleveland at Cincinnati ... hostilities renew for the Battle of Ohio
Tampa Bay at Atlanta ... its end of the world for Gruden. or so he says.
Oakland at Baltimore ... c'mon, this is a gimme.
Arizona at Seattle ... aerial fireworks at Qwest Field. bring the popcorn!
St. Louis at San Francisco ... if Rams can handle Broncos, they should stop Gore easily.
Tennessee at San Diego ... a better test of Philip Rivers' learning
New England at NY Jets ... aha! bad blood! c'mon, Pats, you weren't really gonna pay Branch anyway.
Kansas City at Denver ... questions, questions, questions. who has answers?
Washington at Dallas ... T.O. has B.O.!!!
Pittsburgh at Jacksonville ... didn't pick defending champs last week. ok, correcting that now.


Last week: 9-7

a dawning

following the announcement of new iPod models and the sort-of chilly weather, i just bundled up and continued to love my 4G 'pod.

on the Heard:
Mind On My Man, Karrin Allyson
Sailing, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra London
Peg, Steely Dan
The Heart's A Lonely Hunter, Thievery Corporation (feat. David Byrne)
All I Want is You, U2
Talkin' Bout Bank, The Whoridas
Drive, Ziggy Marley
At This Point In My Life, Tracy Chapman
Love Will Lead You Back, Taylor Dayne
Here's Where The Story Ends, The Sundays
Will You Feel the Same, South Border
Night Shift, Siouxsie And The Banshees
Breakout, Sean Paul
Invisible Sun, The Police
No One is to Blame, Howard Jones
Desafinado, George Michael
I Can't Tell You Why, The Eagles
Katharina, Deep Forest
Choux Pastry Heart, Corinne Bailey Rae
Fun, Fun, Fun, The Beach Boys
Bootie Call, All Saints
She Really Wants You, Aimee Mann
Beautiful Girl, Aztec Camera
Peanut Butter & Jelly, Christina Milian
How Deep Is Your Love, Dru Hill (feat Redman)
N'oubliez Jamais, Joe Cocker
Love Song for No One, John Mayer
Baby Doll, N.E.R.D.
Dracula's Wedding, Outkast (feat. Kelis)
Flash, Queen
The Road, Tenacious D
Trip Through Your Wires, U2
Daylight Robbery, Imogen Heap
Missionary Man, Eurythmics
I Stand With You, The Dawn (R.I.P. Teddy D.)
Friday I'm In Love, The Cure
The Apl Song, Black Eyed Peas
The River of Dreams, Billy Joel
Desert Moon, Dennis De Young
Drowning In Your Eyes, Ephraim Lewis


2008 will mark the 20th anniversary of Teddy Diaz's death. Diaz, a founding member of The Dawn, the Philippines' pioneer new wave/rock band, was killed in almost-cliche fashion - stabbed by some no-future lowlife tambay - during their burgeoning rise to the top of the music heap. the media coverage was extensive, and Diaz was lionized to somewhat ridiculous proportions that even the man himself may complain. his death stirred echoes in chongs'* hearts and minds, recalling the legendary Ian Curtis, who hanged himself at the peak of Joy Division's powers, effectively kickstarting New Order. there was no New Order-level of notoriety (post-Diaz) for The Dawn, however, despite the courage of Messrs. Jett Pangan, Caloy Balcells and JB Leonor to push on. sure, they may have rode their popularity to new heights, but as new wave died off, the Eraserheads took over and became the quintessential Pinoy band everyone will always remember. ironically, the current incarnation of The Dawn also boasts of Buddy Zabala, ex-Eraserhead.

at their best, The Dawn's strength drew from the musical stylings of Diaz' guitar. face it, even their best songs had weak pretentious lyrics and Pangan's vocals was even weaker. since they were instep with the musical times then, abstract lyrics about enveloped ideas and silent screams played well with the chongs looking for direction and rockstars to idolize; but translated to Tagalog, it didn't sound good - you can't have just a narrow strata of society as your audience. that left the guitars to lift The Dawn from being pedestrian. did they ever recapture that strength with their subsequent musical chairs after Teddy died? not enough. The Dawn's lasting legacy is perhaps opening the doors for anyone who dreamed of being in a band (but not dying young or at their peak).

what if Teddy were alive today? he probably would have opened a music school. as it is, everyone (who's anyone and who isn't) cites him as an influence (despite having a very short career), but he could have been and done a lot more to/for the next generation. damn that tambay.

* term used to refer to Pinoy new wavers. used to be on the other side of the fence were the punks, and they used to fight each other, ignoring the fact that they both came from the same musical strain out of the late 70s.

school bullets

gun violence comes to Canada.

Michael Moore has to rewrite Bowling For Columbine.

hppt

buzzword of the day: pretexting

v. the act of pretending to be someone who you are not, by telling an untruth, or creating deception. The practice of pretexting typically involves tricking a telecom carrier into disclosing personal information of a customer, with the scammer pretending to be the customer. At present, the majority of wireless telephony providers consider the practice of pretexting to be illegal. (Wikipedia)

with the current boardroom fiasco in tech giant HP, non-exec Chairman Patricia Dunn has come under fire for allegedly ordering an investigation into boardroom leaks to the media. the methods that the agency she hired however, included pretexting, where someone calls up the phone company and impersonates a board director to obtain their phone records. the legendary VC Tom Perkins, formerly of Compaq, resigned from the HP Board as soon as these allegations came to light. a formal investigation has now been launched by the SEC and the State of California.

has to be a buzzword, because i was deep into the Newsweek article, and as i got out of the subway, the media talking heads were focusing on the term, and telling viewers to stay tuned to 'learn how to protect themselves from this practice'.

hmmm ... reminds me of the time i had to pretend i was my ex-gf, just to break into her MSN account. well, those were the days when Hotmail was unsecure. thankfully. if not, i would not learn some details about my own personal 9/11. can that be categorized under pretexting?

dammit!!!!!

just when i give Steve Jobs my hard-earned money, he stabs me in the back!!!


just for this, i should throw rocks at his glass house on the West Side.

5 years later

ayos 'to, lover, but i had tequila

yeah, i used to think Axl Rose was saying that.

the Heard:
King of Emotion, Big Country
Don't Need A Gun, Billy Idol
Hot Damn, Clipse (feat Ab-Liva, Pharell and Roscoe P Coldchain)
Falling Forward (live), Julia Fordham
Turn Back The Clock, Johnny Hates Jazz
This Way, Jewel
Making Out, No Doubt
You Can Call Me Al, Paul Simon
She's So Young, The Pursuit of Happiness
Someone, Somewhere in Summertime, Simple Minds
I Am The Resurrection, The Stone Roses
Encounter In Bahia, Thievery Corporation
Playboy Mommy, Tori Amos
Mmm Skyscraper I Love You, Underworld
How Will I Know, Whitney Houston
The Edge Of Heaven, Wham!
Lightnin' Hopkins, R.E.M.
Lolita, Prince
King of Pain, The Police
Titan, Photek
So Hard, Pet Shop Boys
Lounge Act, Nirvana
Promiscuous, Nelly Furtado (feat. Timbaland)
Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad, Moby
Everyday is Like Sunday, Morrissey
Caught Up, Metro Area
Kosciuszko, Midnight Oil
It Doesn't Matter, Kon Kan
Cherry Bomb, John Mellencamp
I Can Change, John Legend
Mystify, INXS
Happy Hour, The Housemartins
Used To Love Her, Guns 'n Roses
Every Planet We Reach is Dead, Gorillaz
The Perfect Girl, The Cure
Boogie, The Brand New Heavies
The Ballad Of Chasey Lain, Bloodhound Gang
E-Pro, Beck
No More Words, Berlin
Doo Wop (That Thing), Lauryn Hill
Sin, Nine Inch Nails
My Boyfriend's Back, The Raveonettes
Love Is Stronger Than Pride, Sade
Rock You Like A Hurricane, The Scorpions

Kickoff 2006

... and Football's baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack!

ahhh ... another year, another season.

here we are again, perusing websites and magazines, taking notes of names, inadvertently memorizing stats, and playing fantasy football in my head. i don't think i was this giddy for the NBA in recent years.

far be it for me to put all this information together and come up with something clever. who cares? i root for certain teams, read up on interesting articles, watch the games, go nuts on highlight reels and chug the occasional Miller Light. if i spare a buck or two, i buy some fan gear. or two.


speaking of teams, here's who i like this year:
(yeah i always pick 2 teams per division. sue me.)

AFC
Patriots - until Tom Brady retires. its always interesting to see how a Belichick-led Patriot season plays out.
Jets - of course. it seems weird, given the NY vs Boston dynamic of the Yanks-Red Sox. but hey, when the Patriots play them, I'll always pick the Green.
Steelers - until Cowher retires. or maybe 'til Big Ben again rides without a helmet. ok, bad joke.
Bengals - always a trendy pick. Cincinnati is probably a boring city (no offense), so the Bengals are the only good thing going in there.
Jaguars - the second cat-themed team i like. in fact, i usually like 3 out of the 4 cat teams in the NFL. maybe it'll be all 4 this season.
Texans - not having native son Vince Young doesn't diminish the fact that i still like to see them succeed. but you know i'd be keeping one eye on Tennessee.
Chiefs - Priest Holmes, we hardly knew ye. godspeed.
Chargers - the Brees becomes Rivers. good thing we still have LT and Antonio Gates.

NFC
Rams - a new era begins. A New Show on Turf.
Cardinals - yep, i'm dropping the Seattle in favor of Arizona. take that, Mike Holmgren.
Buccaneers - its probably something about Chuckie. yes, its hard to leave out Vick and the Falcons. but i'd still keep an eye out when Vick does his thing.
Panthers - yes, the 3rd cat team. in fact, they're my SuperBowl XLI favorite. if they stay healthy, that is.
Giants - can it be true? that i root for Manning The Younger, but i dislike Manning the Elder?
Redskins - i needed another team, i don't like the Eagles, and B.O., i mean, T.O. is stinking up the joint in Dallas.
Bears - will Rex Grossman finally play a full season? abangan.
Lions - aha. yes, cat teams come full circle. the Vikings are rebuilding, and Favre should've retired a couple of seasons ago. so enter Rod Marinelli and the Detroit Marines, i mean, Lions.


ah, what the heck. To each his fun. and for my prognostications, i just balance whom i want to win with who could really win. the overall tally so far shows that i pick the right ones.

1st and 10 ... Week 1 prognostications


Miami at Pittsburgh ... the Fins want to make a statement. they will.
Atlanta at Carolina ... ditto with the Panthers
Baltimore at Tampa Bay ... Chris Simms takes over completely
Buffalo at New England ... c'mon, this should be easy
Cincinnati at Kansas City ... Carson Palmer should cement his return
Denver at St. Louis ... Broncos have all the tools to get to the SuperBowl
New Orleans at Cleveland ... the Browns will beat Bush ... Reggie Bush that is
N.Y. Jets at Tennessee ... how long til Vince Young takes the field?
Philadelphia at Houston ... Brian Dawkins guaranteed Eagle emotion. let's see.
Seattle at Detroit ... SuperBowl losers need to start strong or else.
Chicago at Green Bay ... rivalry renewed. too bad it isn't much of one anymore.
Dallas at Jacksonville ... just because i don't like T.O.
San Francisco at Arizona ... the 49ers are not there yet
Indianapolis at N.Y. Giants ... the Elder vs the Younger! place your bets!
Minnesota at Washington ... i'd still pick the Redskins to win this despite 0-4 preseason
San Diego at Oakland ... a Raider win will be an upset

gknb?

my PS2, which was on loan for awhile, has come back to my room. and finally, i can test run a few games that has been sitting unopened and unused on my shelf for awhile now.

i'm not a real fan of camping out in front of a store to get the latest release of a game. that already tells you am not a true-blue gamer. i like, however, to discover games "organically" (thank you, Bill Simmons). i notice a title or two, and when the time comes, purchase it from the Reduced Price section. this is how i really enjoyed (and finished) Rockstar's Manhunt and Red Dead Revolver. but just to flash some gamer cred (of sorts), i admit i did purchase Black (mastered by my pal delphi) and Madden 07 at full price, the latter even within the day of release (guilty).

that being said, let me ruminate on some of the crap am wasting my time on (including this blog), as it will be awhile before i even consider buying a PS3.

Let's Roll
kitschy and weird, that's the best i can say about Katamari Damacy. can be addictive too if not handled properly. people went crazy over this game a couple of years ago, and spawned a couple more sequels. basically, the premise is, you are a Prince and your father, the King of the Cosmos (must be that cheap soda), managed to destroy all the stars in one of his ... uhm, let's just describe it as 'energetic boot-knocking binges'.


not a father figure by any yardstick

so now, the deadbeat is passing the buck on to you, the Prince, to restore all the stars in the sky, by rolling up stuff on earth. yep, rolling. that's all you have to do. it does seem like an easy task, but progression brings more challenges.



roll stuff up. anything you see. thumbtacks. pencils. cookies. teddy bears. ants. mice. cheese. plants. your rolling ball of objects has to be a certain size before your pop launches it to the heavens and make it a new star. i'm waiting for the level where i can roll up people, cars, and skyscrapers. now isn't that strangely addicting? especially with a time limit.


why cant i shoot his patronizing, condescending ass?

casual observers may think this is a kid's game, but the whole thing was concocted by the Japs, who are masters of weird and surreal crap. additionally, there's another pleasant surprise in store:





that's it. am gonna shoot his patronizing, condescending ass.


Kiss My Alien Ass

a homage to the cheesy sci-fi movies of yesteryear, Destroy All Humans! is a fun-filled game where the tables are turned in the us-vs.-UFOs cliche, because you play the alien! imagine all the joy you gain by subjecting the staid humans of '50s suburban America with zap-o-matiks, anal probes, mindscans, hypnotic suggestions, abducto-beams, and death rays.


"where are you, Kris Aquino?"

you play as Cryptosporidium-137, affectionately known as Crypto in the Furon homeworld, who has been tasked to harvest human brains which supposedly contains strands of Furon DNA, in hopes of reviving your race's capability to ... procreate. yep, your species are eunuchs.


run, run from the ugly, short midget with a gun


"who's your daddy??????????"


aside from electrocuting human sheep, you get to extract their brains too

Furons merely continue their generational cycle by cloning. which means i get to die a thousand times before i even tire of killing these pathetic humans (i'm up to Crypto-143 right now). can't you tell by the wide smile on my face?


Smashmouth
it would be crazy to buy a Madden NFL game every year, but thats what real fans do. me, i made do with the 2004 edition back when i got my PS2, and then went out and bought Madden 07 within a day of its release. yes, i'm one of the sheep who contributed to its record-breaking $100 million sales figure in just 2 weeks.

after popping in the disc, i didn't even bother to check the rosters (but that i will do when time permits, which is the only thing i do which could lump me in the same category as those who called in sick the day the game was released) - just Play Now!

my first game was a bit iffy, playing the NY Giants against the Oakland Raiders (yes, the NY Jets will suck). i let the Raiders score 2 field goals before getting comfy enough to make a touchdown. i even got penalized twice.


but the Giants' defense held, holding Oakland scoreless in the second half.


i liked my second game even better, where i played my SuperBowl bet Carolina Panthers against the rebuilt Detroit Lions.

Jake the Man slings the rock ...


... and is caught in highlight-reel fashion by who else - Steve Smith!

back then, i used to be scared of play-action - as if i was the one who's gonna get sacked. no more.


this particular sequence worked well, as "Me-Shawn" Johnson managed to catch it where it matters.


there was also a spectacular Julius Peppers takedown of Jon Kitna.


less than a minute left, the Lions need 3 touchdowns and some to beat me, and i go with 4 WRs. yes, i'm running up the score. no kneeldowns here.


and there they go!


another Smith touchdown.


yeah. call me bully.


ok, ok, i was playing weaker teams. and i belatedly found out that i was just playing at a "Pro" level. let me dial that up to "All-Pro" and leave me alone.


i have a couple more games - Gun and God of War. i previewed God of War, which is something i'd like to finish one day (after the rest of the world is already deep into its sequel - that's February 2007). God of War is an 3rd person action-adventure vehicle with you playing a battle-hardened mortal going up the beasts and gods of mythology. it has won a lot of awards and there is no question why - the graphics are spectacular and the game offers a lot of puzzling challenges to go along with its combat-heavy storyline.


i can't even get past this Hydra. i suck.

this is even more fun that the 2-D Gods PC game back in the 90's. i mean, will Lara Croft do some racy stuff in a cutscene? i hope i can unlock this particular one (this was modded - can't find the original).

i'll spend more time and focus on this after i get tired of rolling cows, finish off the human race, and throw about 20,000 touchdowns. so don't expect me to blog a lot in the next few months (besides, its football season).