schlagging.com

Some changes

Posted on December 1st, 2006 by Josh.
Categories: site news, games, books, movies, music.

Once again, I’ve messed with the layout and design of my blog. I threw out that old one, because it was kind of annoying, and didn’t play well with the lesser browser (IE).

I’ve opted (for now) to just pick one of the default templates, and play around with the new Blogger Beta functionality before going any further.

It’s neat - you can create widgets to drag and drop into place on the page. Very intuitive.

I’ve also ditched my book/music/movie recommendations, opting instead to relay those from time to time by posting an entry. Speaking of which, here’s one now!

The latest cause of thumb blisters

• Guitar Hero II (Playstation 2) - Along with a revamped and much more fun multiplayer mode, GHII comes with a whole new set of songs. Among my favorites at the moment are Jessica (The Allman Brothers Band), Psychobilly Freakout (The Reverend Horton Heat), YYZ (Rush), Beast and the Harlot (Avenged Sevenfold), and Hangar 18 (Megadeth). I’m still not ready for hard or expert difficulty, but I’m getting pretty good at medium.
   
   
   
   
   

• WWE Smackdown vs. Raw 2007 (Xbox 360) - If you know me, you know I’ve been hooked on pro wrestling since ninety-deuce. That’s not even a lie. I started watching back in the days of Bret ‘Hitman’ Hart and Razor Ramon. I stuck with ‘em even after I learned what the word choreographed means. And to this day, I get to play some fun games that try to emulate the madness seen a couple times a week on TV and in arenas around the world. The SvR game engine has been maturing over the years, and is finally becoming one that I truly enjoy. Gone are the days of ridiculous collision detection and endless button mashing. There is still a degree of button mashing, but it is a lot more manageable than it once was - with momentum shifts and well timed reversals taking a key spot in the gameplay. It’s not everyone’s cup o’ tea, but it is definitely mine.

My nose has been buried in..

• Survivor (Chuck Palahuniuk) - A month or so ago, I decided to get back into reading. Reading in my library (err.. bathroom), during lunch breaks, in bed before falling asleep.. To get me back into the swing of things, I decided I’d give Palahniuk a try. Quite a few friends have been into his work for a while, and the only one I knew - Fight Clubs - I am a big fan of. So I started there. The movie did a very good job of translating the style of the book, in my opinion. Didn’t get a whole lot out of it, but it was good. I moved on to another of his books, Survivor, and found it to have a similarly strange setup. A man is on a plane by himself, and said plane will eventually run out of fuel and lead to his death. In the meantime, he’ll be quite happy to recount his life and why he is on the plane into the “black box”. I enjoyed many aspects of the book. It won’t go down as a favorite, but it was worth my time.
   
• JPod (Douglas Coupland) - At Micah’s suggestion, I picked this book up at the store a couple weeks ago. Video game designers in an office setting. Eccentric personalities. Strange happenings in the life of the main character. Lots of programming (and other) references. So far.. so good. As Micah said, it’s right up my alley.

 
 
 
 
 
 
Recent viewings

• Nothing as of late. I should go to the theaters more often.

Latest on the iPod

• The Devil and God Are Raging Inside Me (Brand New) - Brand New is back with their junior album, and they are still rocking - inspired lyrics and clever melodies prevail. I found myself taking in their latest effort in much the same way I took in their second album, Deja Entendu. Upon my first listen, I wasn’t sure what to think. I was sort of indifferent, maybe didn’t like the sound. But a couple more and it quickly became a favorite. From the ever so catchy Sewing Season (Yeah) to Micah’s favorite, Jesus (or just track 3, as he calls it) - they do not fail to deliver with dreary and artful sounds, with a little bit of the screaming mixed in. I think it’s pretty well done, overall. Highly recommended.

2 comments.

Anyone who opposes me shall be destroyed.

Posted on July 6th, 2006 by Josh.
Categories: youtube, games.

0 comments.

I’m bald!

Posted on May 1st, 2006 by Josh.
Categories: games.

I remember Katie once told me I’d look rather evil if I shaved my head. She’s probably right:

I downloaded this program called FaceGen Modeller to try and make an accurate representation of myself in a video game, and while it looked great on my computer… it didn’t translate too well in the game - so I made myself into a wood elf with a mohawk instead.

1 comment.

“Big Time” weekend

Posted on April 3rd, 2006 by Josh.
Categories: games, sports.

This past week was a very competitive one for me. Last Tuesday night, seven of my friends and I took part in the annual online draft for our fantasy baseball teams. Over the next few months, smack will be talked on the message boards, and it will become clear who knows their baseball stats best by the time October rolls around. Last year I came up short to Ryan. This year, there is a $160 prize at the end, to be used to buy an official MLB jersey. If I win, I’ll probably buy a Robin Yount or Tony Gwynn jersey. Make that.. when I win.

This weekend also marked the end of two other competitions.

Friday night at midnight was the deadline for the Xbox 360 points race, as Mike alluded to a couple times in his blog. For those of you not in the know, Xbox 360 games award points (generally 200 for the smaller downloadable arcade games and 1000 for retail games) for certain accomplishments in game (high scores, beating certain levels on certain difficulties, etc.).

I was down by over a thousand points in the last couple days, but pulled a wild card at the end with Peter Jackson’s King Kong: The Official Game of the Movie (longest title ever!). That, along with a handful of other achievements, put me in the lead hours before the clock struck twelve.

Now, I’ve got $40 worth of Xbox Live Marketplace points coming my way. w00t!

As though that wasn’t enough, yesterday was comparable to Super Bowl Sunday in my apartment. It was Wrestlemania Sunday, to us. Pizza, wings, guac, beer, and four hours of choreographed fighting. It was glorious.

It also marked the end of Season 6 of WWE Fantasy. Yeah, there is a fantasy sports game for WWE. I thought it sounded lame, too - but it’s actually been pretty fun to build up a roster of wrestlers and see who can predict the outcome of matches better. Anyway, my brother and I wagered a $50 Chipotle gift card on who would win at the end of the season. Each week, we went back and forth in the points standings, and I was down by 30+ points going into this last week.

When all the dust settled, I again came out on top.

Oh, and Arizona beat ASU in baseball, too! A glorious weekend, indeed.

0 comments.

Throw down with The King

Posted on March 3rd, 2006 by Josh.
Categories: games.

So in Fight Night: Round 3, a certain creepy commercial star makes a cameo..

I couldn’t stop laughing the first time I saw this in the game.

0 comments.

The internet is for porn

Posted on February 2nd, 2006 by Josh.
Categories: youtube, games, music.

Apparently somebody took a song off the Avenue Q soundtrack and made a machinima video for it with World of Warcraft characters:

I’ve heard good things about Avenue Q.. I’ll have to check it out sometime if/when they tour.

Special thanks go out to Puza for sharing this with me.

1 comment.

Break-in period

Posted on January 24th, 2006 by Josh.
Categories: games, flickr, motorcycle.

Just a quick note before I start: I’ve noticed that my site looks funny in Explorer. It probably has for a while, but nobody’s bothered to tell me. I rarely use Explorer these days, except when at work to test that my web app renders fine in it. I’ll look into the problem this weekend - it’s probably just some CSS tweaking that I’ll have to do. Anyway, I’m starting to delve into Nick Burns-ish territory, where nobody knows what I’m talking about..

Something I had never heard of until I got my bike is a break-in period for an engine. Apparently, within the first x-hundred miles (in my case, 300), you are to introduce an engine to a variety of speeds and throttle force.

So far, it’s been mostly between 15 and 30 mph at the local parking lot behind my gym. But last night I found a stretch of street where I kicked it up to 50mph in a matter of a few seconds - what a rush of adrenaline! That was the moment when I really discovered why people love motorcycles so much.

Just riding around a parking lot gets my adrenaline going enough that when I get home I can’t just sit - I either run over to the gym or have to do something else like bust out with a couple mean guitar solos on Guitar Hero. But when you start to speed up - wow.

I think I’ll be taking the bike to church this Sunday morning when the freeway is nearly empty - a) in an effort to properly break in my bike, and b) because it’ll be fun just to get up to higher speeds! (Yes, I’ll be responsible about it, and no I won’t speed like I do in my car..)

1 comment.

Transmitters? We don’t need no stinking transmitters!

Posted on January 18th, 2006 by Josh.
Categories: games, music, sports, internet.

To take an idea from Brad, I’d like to share with you some podcasts that I regularly listen to.

But first, some of you might ask - what the hell is a podcast? Well, a podcast is essentially a radio show available for download over the internet. Some are actually broadcast on some sort of radio (typically XM or Sirius), but most are strictly bound to the web. This allows for freedom from the restrictions of federal regulations, and allows for a much wider variety of topics than you’d expect to hear from radio shows otherwise.

I tend to listen to them on the commute to work and while I’m sitting in my cube plugging away at code. They’re a good way to keep up to date on what’s going on, or to get a good laugh in.

All right, so now that the explanation is out of the way, here’s what I listen to:

• this WEEK in TECH - TWiT is a weekly podcast, covering all that is technology - from general hardware to general software to gaming to televisions to whatever else you can dream up. It is hosted by Leo Laporte, and is sort of a roundtable discussion involving Leo and other former hosts of the no longer existing Screensavers show from the also deceased Tech TV. Great way to keep up to date on what’s new in technology, and get the perspective from some of the top voices in the field today.
• Major Nelson Radio - Major Nelson is the Xbox Live gamertag of Xbox Live Director of Programming, Larry Hryb. Each week, he gives an insider’s view of Xbox Live - talking about what’s new on the system, as well as presenting one or two interesting interviews from people he pulls out of the hallways into his office. Once, even - I was listening and recognized the voice of a guy I went to college with, who is now working for Microsoft! Great podcast if you’re an Xbox gamer - I find myself becoming more and more of one since I’ve got nothing better to be spending my time doing..
• Daily Source Code - Delta Sierra Charlie is a daily show, hosted by former MTV VJ, Adam Curry. Some have proclaimed him as the father of podcasting. That point can be up for debate, but he certainly played his role, and continues to do so today. Sometimes I listen to it just because I run out of other podcasts to listen to, but it’s interesting often enough that I stay subscribed to it.
• Gamespot presents The Hotspot - Ah, more video games. Of course. Editors of Gamespot get together to discuss what’s new in the world of video games each week.
• Hi My Name Is Mark - Mark Hoppus, of Blink-182 fame, does (or did) his bi-weekly podcast - playing music from and interviewing bands whom he enjoys and/or is working with. I say “or did” because he hasn’t done a new episode in almost two months now, and I’m afraid it may have just been a short-lived experiment. But it was fun to listen to while it lasted - maybe it will be revived one of these days..
• Diggnation - The guys behind the digg.com bring you this weekly show that goes through the top “dugg” stories of the week - usually stuff involving technology. Usually interesting to listen to.
• 1up.com podcast - Again, not sure what’s up with this podcast lately. It hasn’t been updated in a few weeks, but it gave a similar perspective as The Hotspot, but this one is of course with the editors of competing site 1up.com.
• ESPN Radio podcast - Daily roundup of the highlights from ESPN Radio: interviews, opinions, and more.
• Official Green Bay Packers Podcast - Interviews and press conferences of Packers players and coaches. I just signed up for this one, but I think they also do a weekly preview of games during the season. Go Pack Go! They can only go up from here..
• The Edge 103.9 Morning Ritual, Last Character Standing - I wrote an email a while ago to the good folks over at The Edge, suggesting they do podcasts of segments from their morning show. Well, lo and behold, they did it! They now upload each week’s “Last Character Standing” for our enjoyment. If you’re not in the know, LCS is a weekly competition where they put two character/comedians up against each other and have the listeners vote for a couple hours over the phone and internet to determine who will survive to come back the next week. Since I’ve been listening, it’s been domination by Jerry the Dog’s inner monologue. “Hey, my nuts! And I can reach them.. with my mouth! How cool is that?” Hopefully, they’ll make a podcast feed for their weekly “That Guy” rants.

0 comments.

Three pumpkin pies, two football losses, and an Xbox 360… in a pear tree?

Posted on November 27th, 2005 by Josh.
Categories: games, sports.

Oh, where to start?

Last Monday night, I decided that I should drive over to the local 24 hour Walmart and see if they had any extra 360’s.. somehow I ended up being the last person in line to get a voucher for one. I later learned that the guy in the front of the line waited for 30 hours. I showed up and waited for an hour and a half. What a sucker.

I have mine, and thanks to Danny - it now has a sexy wooden panel on the front. It’s amazing.

Well, it looks like I’m working backwards, concerning the topics in the title for this post. So next up is football.

Friday was the game. THE game. The battle for the Territorial Cup. ASU. U of A. I got to the parking lot extra early, got an awesome tailgating spot, and got things all set up.

By noon there were a couple dozen people at my tent, and we were all enjoying beer bongs, beer pong, burgers, hot dogs, etc. Good times! Then we went in, watched U of A outplay the Sun Devils - and then somehow let the game slip to ASU at the end. Oh well, they can have their bowl game. They might not get to play in another one anytime soon. They are clearly on their way down, as Arizona - led by Stoops and T n’ T (Willie Tuitama and Michael Thomas) - is on the way up.

Can you say Tuitama for Heisman? Maybe it IS a bit too early, but it’s fun to say regardless..

So I did say two football losses. The other was today, as the Packers let yet another win slip past them. It’s kinda sad.. I’m used to winning seasons and making runs at the post-season. Not this year, though. This year, the Packers are taking the role ususally reserved for the Cardinals. I am wanting the Pack to finish with a terrible record (they’ve been doing a good job thus far, why change it) so that they can get some awesome draft picks and start the rebuilding phase.

I’d like to see Favre stick around for all of that. I believe that he still has some good games in his future - his stats this year (sans the interception column) prove that. This season is shot though. As long as they can beat the stinkin Bears at home.. I’ll be happy. I can’t really ask for much more at this point.

Just don’t take my words as nay-saying - I bleed green and gold, and that will never change. Except when it’s red and blue, for the Wildcats. That’s some.. freakish color changing blood, wouldn’t you say? Haha, I’m lame.

Okay, so the pies. I don’t know if three is an accurate count, but I can easily say that I have eaten a lot of pie as of Thursday. That, and it helped tie together the topics, ya know? Mmmm.. three pumpkin pies. Delicious.

0 comments.

XBox 360: Round 1

Posted on November 18th, 2005 by Josh.
Categories: games.

So my first attempt at getting a 360 has gone down in flames. I learned earlier this week that Circuit City would be selling them on their website today at 2PM ET. Orders that get through quick enough will be shipped on Monday, and with overnight shipping - I would’ve been able to get one in my hands by Tuesday when all those who wait in lines outside of Best Buy/Target/WalMart will be able to get them. Lucky for me, 2PM ET is 12PM MT, aka lunch time for me - so I could try to get one on my lunch break!

But alas, it was not meant to be.

At first I was optimistic. I expected the site to be struggling in the minutes before noon. But it wasn’t at all. I kept hitting that refresh button, every now and then getting an error - probably because I was hitting it too often. But then after about 20 minutes the button was finally enabled and I was able to add one of those bad boys to my shopping cart. All right!

And then… it began.

Somewhere behind the scenes, network admins and programmers braced behind the keyboards, seeing the number of hits their site was getting. As soon as people started to access the shopping carts, all hell would break loose. The servers couldn’t handle processing so many at once. But the programmers pressed on: “No, it can handle it - we don’t have to take the site down!”

No, but we did see irritating messages like so:

This kept up for.. a while. It was time to get back to work, and I did. But I kept switching back to the browser window to hit back or refresh, or whatever I had to do to get to my shopping cart again and retry clicking the checkout button.

It was teasing me. It would get through to page 2 of checkout every now and then, only to send me all the way back to the beginning a few minutes later.

Fiiiinally… the programmers gave up. They threw in the towel. They.. okay, I was going to list some more metphors for quitting but I can’t come up with anymore. But in the end, we were all redirected:

Damn. Does somebody want to wait in line for me next Tuesday morning?

1 comment.

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