Not A Slow Day At All, Just A Slow Connection…

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Bleh, so the horror continues. I’m still poking around at a whopping 24-28mbps maximum at a few spots today, so I’m typing this post on an actual faster dial-up connection (whee?) and wondering what’s up in this area lately with broadband. Anyway, I’m behind on a ton of stuff thanks to this and I’ve a screening to attend in the early evening. I’ll try hitting a hotspot afterwards to see if I get a better connection in the city, but this is getting ridiculous. Yeah, it’s going to be “fun” when these new digital-only systems roll in after the coming generation for sure. Back in a bit with some actual updates (HOPEFULLY)…

Payday 2 Updates: “What Is” (Or: Living Large As A Lowlife)…

And in the not too distant future, there will be many Monday morning work conversations that go something like this: “Er, Soooo… what did YOU do this weekend…” followed by a smirk and maybe a knowing nod or three from a few others hanging around that coffeemaker after being up way too late the night before playing too much Payday 2. Sure, it’s not a game for everyone, but if you’re looking for something more like a modern day cops & robbers deal and not another military shooter with a guaranteed few million sales on day one (and super crowded lobbies to boot).

The original Payday was a blast, but this sequel adds so much more cool stuff that it feels like a reinvention in some respects. 505 Games and Overkill Software have a hit here for you would be digital bank robbers, so do them a favor and pay actual dollars to snap this one up, I say…

Random Game of the Month (JRPG Edition): Tales of Xillia

TOX_L_03_chara_06 

It’s finally here and it’s going to be a game genre fans should buy for a few key reasons from the mixed art styles working amazingly well, the stupidly deep amount of stuff to do in this installment (it’s the biggest Tales game to date), the “open world” feel to the gameplay experience plus all the usual stuff that has fans of this series sometimes buying specific consoles to play a single game in the long-running franchise. Tales of Xillia is all that and more, folks.

I’m betting at some point over the next day or three Mr. Baba and the dev team will probably be sitting at home (well, at their separate homes, as I’d hate to know what happens with such a large bunch of people living together biting their nails at the same time each Tales game is released) and wondering right about now how many fans in the US and other territories this is coming out in will be snapping up this one in the Standard, Limited or Collectors Editions. I need to get this one myself, as my backlog is SO huge this year that it’s worth doing a flowchart on (and I did – it’s terrifying). Anyway, if you’re an fan of anime/mamga-styled Japanese RPGs, yeah, you need to buy this game.

Holy Cats… THIS Is Broadband?

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What the hell did I miss? Did the earth explode and I’m the only one not on facebook and twitter babbling about it? Did the Royal Baby crawl today? What? I’ve been to three places today and EVERY single one of them, while having an “excellent” connection, is SLOOOOOOOOWER than a bunch of old coots on Rascal scooters with dead batteries at the bottom of a steep hill. So far, I’m getting a MAXIMUM of a “whopping” 18mmps where I’m at not. 18!??? WTF? Meh. Oh wait a minute, Dave. Wait a minute. We’re now at 24mbps! Wah-hoo! Er, nope. Feh. So much for my downloading of screens and such to go with the stuff I’m writing, a few games I need to get started on and some other stuff, grrrr…

Meh, I’ll hang out here a half hour or so longer than start off for the home office. I hate it when this happens. Of course, I could stroll around looking for a better signal, but my online search for that shows just two more spots close by, so I may drop in and see what happens there…

So, What Happens When You #ActivateKrueger? A Lot of Running & Yelling, I Bet…

Eek. Here comes the mountain man-droid, so go hide under something until he’s gone. Unless he’s coming for you, which means you won’t get far at all. Yeah, that was a really good idea, huh? Of course, no Krueger (Sharlto Copely, who’s been working out a bit, I see) means no confrontation and Elysium probably gets to be a boring film… so go right on ahead and press that button or whatever. Just make sure you’re nowhere in the vicinity hen you do. It seems Mr. K. is a bit un-picky when he chooses his targets.

This has been a public service announcement. Neill Blomkamp’s latest film opens this Friday at a theater near you (most likely).

Vitameatavegamin Could Have Been the Red Bull of the 1950’s…

(thanks, Ruthyramon!) 

Well, it it actually existed, that is… I think it’s Lucille Ball’s birthday or it just passed or something. My crystal ball is cracked and I’m too lazy to check the internet. Wait… I’m ON the internet. Hold on, blast you… Aha! It’s August 6, 1911, so I’m a day early. Good! Happy Birthday, Lucy!

Random Film of the Week: Kind Hearts and Coronets

Kind Hearts and CoronetsDid Ealing Studios ever make a bad comedy? I’ve yet to see one, and the streak they were on brought some of the most memorable flicks to lucky audiences that are still great today. One of the best black comedies ever made and featuring Alec Guinness in an amazing eight roles, 1949’s Kind Hearts and Coronets is a truly classic film that’s still as effectively dryly hilarious and fun to watch as ever. If anyone tells you that movies with voice overs that spell things out are “bad” films, sit them down with this one and watch them choke on that thought as they die laughing.

The film manages to be great despite that running narration by its murderous lead character Louis Mazzini, the tenth Duke of Chalfont (Dennis Price) as he retells his family history and lays out how he’s dispatched the assorted surviving members of a wealthy family in a quest for revenge, a title and the affections of two ladies who drop in and out of his life. Granted, you’ll feel a lot more for Mazzini than you do for his victims in the D’Ascoyne family, most of whom seem somewhat deserving of their assorted fates…

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Random Art: OK, I Wasn’t THAT Lazy…

wired

Nyah. I actually did some art this weekend, so there! I was waiting for a bunch of downloads to complete and knocked out a few tree drawings in MS Paint. I guess that counts as “work” right? RIGHT? OK, so I don’t make a dime from my art these days, but hey… practice keeps my brain from folding itself up into a little box. Although, my poor wrist is kicking me in the shins from making that mouse do all those tricks (and the mouse isn’t paid either for it’s troubles. It’s wireless and that makes it tailless and you should be singing “Three Blind Mice” right about now…)

Noooo! The “Curse” of Creative Nonproductivity Strikes!

ccEeeeeeek! Murder!! Yeah, I HAD a bunch of stuff planned this weekend, but it all got turned DEAD by a bunch of unfortunate time killers. Yeah, I made the mistake of downloading a bunch of games and firing a few up, I got some more stuff in the mail to play (whee!) plus I stumbled across a film I hadn’t seen in a while. And yes, the next thing you know, a bunch of stuff I had on the plate was kidnapped and dispatched without remorse. Even worse… I’m OUT OF COFFEE CEREAL!!! Horrors!

Get me a detective and a time machine, dammit! A Sherlock Holmes meets Doctor Who kinda deal should work… I think. OK, anyway, let me salvage what I can and post at least ONE article that’s more than a silly apology. Off to mine some salt = back in a bit…

Random Film of the Week(end): Invasion of the Bee Girls

(Thanks, DST3K!) 

Invasion of the Bee Girls Was Invasion of the Bee Girls a modern feminist film disguised as a stupidly sexy 70’s exploitation flick? I’d say hell no, but for all its nudity and pervy middle-aged to old coots getting bedded and bumped off by a bevy of shapely babes with the power to kill any guy they mate with, there’s probably a message in there somewhere. I actually remember seeing this one as a kid one afternoon when it popped up on TV as a heavily edited (but still ridiculously racy) flick and it being a pretty hot topic at school the next day.

As I’ve “matured” and checked out the uncut version a few times since (hey, ONLY for research purposes!), it’s clear that all those hot and bothered guys (and a few gals) knew a while lot more about the birds and the bees that I did at that tender age…

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