6.30.02: Greetings Again from Winston-Salem, NC. I haven't updated for a really long time, so there might be outdated-ish news on this page. Just so you know. Also, I am experimenting with a new presentation format. Fear the effectiveness of sections with mini-headlines! This way you can feel free to perouse the different topics, and skip uninteresting ones at your discretion. Certain things have been highlit just so you know they're important. Observe: Stub Finally Beats UT. Yes, it took me approximately three quarters of forever to beat the classic multiplayer game Unreal Tournament--yeah, the one that was in stores like five years ago, that's the one. Do people even bother trying to beat multiplayer-oriented games? The answer: Yes, when it's summer and they're in a state they do not know and there isn't a whole lot else to do. In the Future, Spiders Zap You. We saw Minority Report, and it is the coolest thing that's run through a movie projector since The Fellowship of the Ring. (Note my evident lack of the words "Star" and also "Wars" in the preceding sentence). When I first saw the trailer and tried to explain it, people were eager to point out what they thought was a serious metaphysical flaw balancing (and thus precariously) the whole foundation concept of the movie: that being, if you arrest someone for a crime they're about to commit, didn't they not commit it? Or rather, didn't they don't commit it, or aren't they not to commit it, or something. Fear not, skeptics. They do tackle that issue breifly in the movie, and thankfully it does not hang in the back of your mind the whole time, so that you're not thinking "Yes, but...but..." Also, some crap gets blown the heck up, and that's just fine. I'd consider this The Fellowship of the Ring's descendant in another way, which is that the special effects are woven well into the fabric of the movie, instead of cutting back and forth between stoic melodrama and cartoonish robots blowing up. Two movies have now shown George Lucas what he could be doing with his life's work. Let's hope he goes to the movies and sees them before Episode III comes out, eh? And just to prove that Minority Report was using CG as a crutch and not a wheelchair, the last half hour of the movie is basically CG-less. Take notes, Lucasfilm. Oops, did I type that out loud? Also, has anyone out there seen that old Tom Celic (sp?) movie Runaway about crime in the future? Because that had cool robot spiders, too, though they resembled fairly dangerous wind-up toys. Just a thought. Train: Whatever the Album is Actually Named, Who Cares? Okay, so let's establish one thing up front: I am not some emo-mongering schmuck that turns up the Michael Bolton after a hard day at work, a'ight? The reason that I bought the latest Train album is because of that song "Drops of Jupiter". Lately I've been thinking that good piano work can really make a (rock) song (and hence my obsessions as of late with Muse and Rufus Wainwright). "Drops of Jupiter" is reminiscent of the old-school (relative to my generation) Elton John stuff. Post-Crocodile-Rock and pre-Lion-King. If you're asking for specific albums, I can't help you there. It's the stuff I can only identify when it comes on the radio, and I'm like, yeah, that one. So anyway, I like that song, and the song after it is good, and there's another one on there that the beginning sounds like "Dark Side of the Moon." The rest is so-so. A couple of tracks on there could pass for straight country music, which makes me wonder--what have I done with my fourteen dollars??! Who Needs Beer? We Got Oreos. A vision came to me today. Maybe for the apartmentwarming party in the wedge this schoolyear, I dunno, but: I want to have a big oreo party. Think of it--every man and woman with a pack of oreos and a big friggin bowl of milk for dippin. And, free lactaid given out at the door, so that no one gets left out of the creamy, soggy, cookie-y goodness. Mmm, boy. I'm sold. Someone Re-Teach Me Spanish. Because Mexicans keep calling me at work, and then I try and communicate, and they actually laugh at me. No exaggeration. Diablo II Goes Way Too Slow. So. Blizzard Entertainment thinks that I will sit in front of my computer and play their games for hours on end, do they? Well, they're in for a surprise. Because I--what's that you say? What comes out on July 3rd? WarCraft III? The one I've been waiting on since freshman year of college? Cancel all my appointments till '03. The Sum of All Bizarre Book-to-Movie Transitions. (Warning: Spoilers ahead. Just skip this section if need to.) Okay, so if you haven't seen The Sum of All Fears, that must mean you don't have a spare 5 hours. If you haven't read the book, that must mean you don't have a spare year. I stopped in the middle of it (which is at like page 457, I think) to read another book. I gave up trying to finish it before the movie, though both were very good, if surprisingly incongruous. In the book, Jack is getting old, drinks too much, doesn't spend enough time with the kids, and is adjusting to a new CIA boss, who doesn't know what he's doing (Cabot...Morgan Freeman's character). In the book, the president's wife has been dead for years, and he's hooking up on the DL with the National Security Advisor (who is a woman, just for the record). John Clark doesn't kill all the bad guys (though that scene was really well done in the movie) and the villains are a lot more believable in the book. They aren't caviar-eating, high-living, aristocrats with generic European-ish accents. There is about 400 pages in the middle of the book that is very discouraging, but once you get to 700-ish, it picks back up again, and you remember why Tom Clancy is so goshdarn cool. So now I've started Without Remorse, which takes place decades before the Jack Ryan saga. American Gods. I finished the latest novel by Neil Gaiman, and it ruled a lot, as was expected. It was darker than Stardust and even Neverwhere, though I think the latter is still my favorite. Once again, Gaiman presents the reader with a million clever oddities that even come together to form a plot, no less. His tendency to not explain things in detail adds to the mystique of his work. If anybody out there needs to ever borrow one of the three Neil Gaiman books which I own and wholeheartedly recommend, just give a holler. To Those Who Helped on the CD Project. Thanks for your help. The end result wasn't too shoddy at all, and I've got a copy to prove it if you want to check it out. I think Sarah enjoyed her present, judging by the phone call I got which consisted largely of high-pitched gleeful squealing. It was way late, but it finally made it. A special thanks to Austin Morgan for his guitar and vocals. Thanks to everybody who kept it quiet, because I was certain that someone would slip and spill the beans. Sorry to those who didn't make it onto the CD because of time restraints/distance/computer troubles. And that about wraps it up for now. -stub out-