My wife told me I needed to blog more about anything but video games, so here goes.
I played a lot of video games today... oh wait, I mean I didn't. I was supposed to go to men's church breakfast this morning but when I woke up and saw my car encased under an inch of ice and my drive way looking like a frozen wasteland I determined that the men would have to do without me. I'll probably get razzed a lot tomorrow for missing it, the men called me from the meeting inquiring where I was. I informed them of my decision to stay where it was warm and safe(incidentally the heater was broken in the church and it was about 40 degrees). They razzed me, as my neighbor down the street andy Montomery made it down to the meeting without a problem. But I remained where it was warm and watched the Empire Strikes Back with my wife and I have no doubt in my mind I made the right choice.
We did eventually go down the Mtn to the store around 3 pm but that was about after 30 minutes of de-icing my car. First I had to ram the door a few times with my shoulder to break up the ice enough to open the door. I then turned it on and let it run on full heat blast. I then took to punching the ice up with my fists and scraping it off with a putty scraper (plastic one). I got most of it off and went down to the store to buy the essentials. One of which was going to be salt for the walk way but shocker they were out. Wife and I hung out at starbucks for a while just to enjoy a little off the mtn time with a friend of ours and then went to a friends house in North GA for some pizza and drink. IT was a good time and by the time we got home most of the ice was long gone.
I've been postponing my Metroid Prime 2 Echoes post upon beating the game, but as I've had it a few weeks and still seem not that close to beating it I figured I'd just go ahead and throw my 2 cents out there.
First off the first Metroid on the Gamecube was a tremendous game that really sold the system for me. I had only had two games prior to Metroid, Smash Bros and Starwars, but after I came back from my honeymoon I found Metroid Prime for 12 bucks and has been the best 12 bucks ever spent. It was a great game, so hard, so engrossing on the story, and so well done on graphics and game play.
Well the second, Echoes, basically takes place right after the last one. Basically you're leaving the planet of the first one, hear a distress beacon from some space marines on another planet and being the good little mercenary she is, Samus jets off to this new world to investigate. You crash land, you always crash land, and begin to explore this honey comb type insect hive. All the space marines are thrashed and trashed but a few spring to life like zombies and try to take you down. Then a dark figure that resembles you comes forth and steals all your powers and you're basically back to square one.
The story behind the game is basically there's this atomic radioactive meteor that struck the first planet in the first game, well a similar asteroid/meteor thing has struck this plannet. But instead of reaking radioactive ooze all over the planet like the first one, it basically took one world and made two dimensions of the world, a light and dark world. The light is filled with an intelligent, powerful and locust like race of beings called the Luminoth. They are much like the Chozo (race of beings that created your space suit and inhabited the planet in the first game and were reminscent of a bird type creature). Being like the chozo they're far superior to humans in both their physical attributes and achievements, aka they make killer weapons and amazing technology, and are also in tune with nature and their surroundings much like some sort of zen like being that has achieved harmony on many levels.
Well they live harmoniously till the asteroid hits and splits the world into two. The dark world is inhabited by this other bug like race called the "Ing" no relation to the online bank I used to work for. They're pretty nasty little dudes that can basically possess anything they want. They can turn themselves into blobs and basically envelop you with their dark ways and you become one of them. You can imagine this can be a little annoying as you encounter a difficult bad guy in the light world, said baddy will be harder in the dark world. Plus if the dark world wasn't dark enough, the environment hurts you and you are only protected by beacons of light energy placed by the Luminoth during their war with the Ing.
Basically you come in when the chips are down, the Luminoth have had all their energy stolen by the Ing, they've only got one of their leaders left awake, the rest are in hybernation and the others are all slain and their bodies are all about the world like beacons of info. The last remaining Luminoth guy bids you to take it to the Ing Samus style and basically you go out and bust some heads.
This game has been really entertaining, dang hard, and very challenging on the mind. As Nintendo goes their games rely more on puzzles and strategy than all out weaponry. The game is completely similar to the first in gameplay with the slight change of the Dark and Light beams. These are the new weapons in the game but unlike the old fire, ice, and wave beams of old metroids these have limited ammo. So you have to rely upon the old trusty power beam for day to day combat and bust out the big guns for the big occasions.
Its games like this that make me glad I have a nintendo, I've gotten a lot of good game time out of it, much to the dismay of the wife. But the game has so much depth and fun exploring and learning the story. I'm not sure how far I'm into it but as the end draws closer the game gets harder. Comparing this to Halo 2 it seems this game made a good sequal by taking a great game and making another great story and changing a few bits of game play. Whereas Halo 2 changed the story to a rediculous one and took out some of the fun things of the first. Though Halo 1&2 is more fun to play multiplayer with hands down.
I haven't had much desire to blog as of late. I guess the spammers are taking their toll on me. I come on my blogg see zero comments from anyone but black jackers and cialis and its just a little frusterating.
Overall things are going good. Wifey's having a turbulent time finding a job. Keep her in your prayers as nothing seems to be popping up as of late. My job's ok, its in its busy season so I'm busy almost all day, which is nice. SO far no overtime yet but it should be coming down soon enough i'm thinking.
I'm kind of down because the U2 fan club thing needs to be done tonight to get advanced tickets to the concert and I don't think we have the money for it so I'm not sure If we'll be going to the concert this year. I mean the fan club is 40 bucks then you figure about 50 to 60 for each ticket, thats too much for a band in my opinion, even for my favorite band. I'm not going to spend a 150 dollars and change to see U2. I want to take the wife to see them but I think we'd rather have other things in life, like heat. I guess priorities change as you get older, going to see u2 is just not high on the list unfortunately. Heck I still haven't even bought the cd yet, its on my to do list.
This weekend we spent time with friends, the wife and I were in a bit of a funk so we didn't do much on saturday.
Watched a little football today. I wasn't surprised and was glad to see the Eagles finally make it to the Super bowl, though i think the pats will dismantle them.
In baseball news, the Astros are dumb, no one is worth 18 million, and the yankees aren't much brighter. The cardinals are being skimpy but they won't be as good as last year in my opinion. They'll be good, but not great.
thats all i have time for....
So for some odd reason I got tired of playing video games this weekend and turned on TBS or something. I was watching football but the "great" games turned out to be a bit of a bore. The only good one seemed to be the Jets Steelers game was good, but the Colts blew it again and I wanted the Rams to put up a fight, but I wanted them to lose as I still can't stand Mike Martz.
So for some reason I turn on this Keanu Reeves romantic movie that was on TBS, "Forever November" or "Sweet November." This movie was terrible, i mean so depressing, but it wasn't believable as Keanu is just not the best leading man. But oddly enough I was enjoying the crappy romance of the movie because it made me think about my wife, and frankly I just down right missed her.
But Keanu was great in this movie, I mean he was terrible but its so fun to watch him try. I mean he's a really bad actor but he makes me feel good about myself. I mean I feel like I could do better and for some odd reason that makes me feel like I'm not half bad. I'm weird I know...
So I posted a blog the other night but i guess since the spammers have been hard at work the site was down, so here goes, take 2.
I had a bachey weekend. The wife went down to Birmingham to see her college friends. Friday night I had the MIC meeting of the c stoners, aka men in the church sit around and talk about manly stuff.
Most of the weekend I just sat around and played Metroid Prime 2, Civ3, and watched a ton of movies.
First I watched Resident Evil 2 which was pretty good speaking from a context as a fan of the Resident Evil games 1,2, and Nemesis. The movie was mindless, much like the zombies, but had good action and good one liners. So all in all it was fun to watch.
I also rented Shaun of the Dead. I watched this one last night and I'll give it this, it has some of the most ironic scenes in a movie, the problem is, that its just not that funny. There are a few histarical scenes where Shaun and his buddy try to figure out how to kill a zombie and throw everything at the zombies they have: coffee mugs, records, laundry, the laundry basket... etc. There's also kind of an odd and funny musical number where the humans are beating this zombie with pool cues to the beat of an elton john type song. It was truly bizzare and funny at times, but all in all wasn't worth the price of admission. I just think brits and Americans can't get on the same wave length as far as comedy goes. They're ahead of us on some levels, and way behind us on some other levels as far as comedy goes.
I also borrowed Return of the King extended from my buddy Mark. It took all day to watch it but it was ok. I mean i think a few of the extra scenes were good but the whole saruman thing was just terrible. I see now why they just cut it out for the theatre. Its almost like if you can't do it right, don't do it at all. This scene did nothing really for the plot, and in no way coinsided with the book. Which the whole complaint about cutting Saruman out of the movie was it didn't coinside with the book, so Jackson adds him to the dvd and the complaint still stands, its not in the book. So far I think my favorite LOTR was the first one hands down, also my favorite book too. Two Towers was my favorite extended, I felt that the extended 2 towers was so far superior to the theatrical and was really happy to see the extra stuff.
I also watched Van Helsing. It was ok, not as bad as everyone made it out to be, but not as good as it could have been. Pretty poor acting in general, Dracula came across as a loser and kind of a limp wrist. I mean he hardly ever fought anyone and just let his minions go fight and screw it up. The Dracula I know would go out and get the job done and get it done right... till the sun comes up and he'd then be done for. But I think part of my like for this movie springs from my affection for the Castlevania video game. This is a game that started on Nintendo and has found its way on every platform for the most part. The N64 ones were really good I thought and great game play and story though the graphics were weak. The whole story of Castlevania is about Simon Belmont a vampire hunter who goes after Dracula and has to fight his way through all the other infamous monsters of the monster genre.
I also watched Anchor Man, and I must say I really didn't like this at all. I mean it had a few funny parts but I felt this movie was a lot like Dodgeball, it just didn't come across as funny as it should. I mean its so absurd that its just not that funny. I'm not sure what it is about these movies: Dodgeball, Anchorman, and those type but I'm just not finding them that funny. I found Old School funny, but more for the slap stick humor than anything, that and Snoopey Doopey Doop.
Metroid 2 is proving to be a formidable game, both in thinking and gameplay. The game is a lot harder than the first, and the first was pretty tough. Plus the new weapons are kind of cool, and they have limited ammo on them so it makes it harder, and makes you rely upon your original power blaster. The puzzles in the game are tough and you don't get many hints in the game. In the first you could just wander around for a few minutes and then the game would give you a hint on the map. I haven't beaten it yet, probably about half way, but the game's good and long which is good. I'm afraid of what the last guy will be like, I'm imagining a super tough Metroid of sorts.
The wife got back about 3 this afternoon and its good to have her home. Its weird when she goes out of town I get sort of depressed and don't want to leave the house, though I did, at least once a day. I hung out with a few of my old hallmates a few nights and that was good as I don't see them as much as I'd like to. Though Saturday when we hung out I was pretty tired as I was up till 4 am playing video games friday night. Though the work week is starting up again and I won't have a break from the work a day world for quite some time. MLK day was a good breather. Its hard going back to work after weeks of time off. And in honor of MLK day i listened to U2's Pride twice.
The wife and I have had a pretty good weekend. Usually a weekend is either too busy and flies by and I'm in my cubicle before I know it. Or its slow and dull and usually involves me playing too many video games. This had a good balance of both.
The wife and I had a minor date night friday with some home made avacado, sausage, mushroom, onion, wheat pizza. We curled up and finished the trilogy we started last week, with the final piece Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. It was the wife's favorite and after seeing it again, its pretty much a toss up between that and Raiders, but there's something about Raiders I love. The fight scene on the airfield, the suttle comedy, and melting faces at the end. Though Last Crusade has the brilliant interplay between Indie and his dad that almost any normal son can relate to. The weird balance of respect/resentment a son has for his father. Where his whole life he resents his father, but as soon as he sits down with him he begins to see the wisdom his father was trying to impart to him. Life is interesting in that sense. Sons grow up idolizing their fathers, then teenage years hit and the son resents the father for not being as "cool" or smart as the son. Then the son goes to college and thinks he has figured the world out and wonders why his father can't. Then it all culminates with the real world, and the son finally realizes his dad was right and sees the wisdom his father had all along... Not sure if all that was in Indiana Jones but it could be, I'll have to ask my dad.
Oddly enough Temple of Doom seems to be disliked by all. I mean even in the extras Spielberg didn't like it at all, and Lucas seemed to not even be involved in it.
Then Saturday was good. I played Metroid Prime 2 for the first time and its pretty dang cool. More to come later on that. The wife and I played some Mario Kart too, she wasn't really a fan but I'll keep trying to convert her to video games. Then I scrambled all the way down to the bank to make a morning deposit and it was stinkin closed. I don't know if its just the south or what, but in St. Louis banks are opened till noon on saturdays for bums like me who need to make a deposit... so aggravating.
Then the wife and I came back home and washed the cars in the beautiful weather. It was the first time my car has been cleaned in a decade. I seriously had a leaf pile in my car, not sure how it got there. And in the back i was working on a pseudo compost pile/dump with all the soda cans, beef jerky wrappers, and various other what nots.
Then some friends of ours from church came and we ate food and played games. I watched the Jets comeback and beat the Chargers, which was disappointing...i wanted the chargers. The Rams won.... but who cares about a 6 and 6 team in the playoffs.
Today I'm parting with some old friends. Medal of Honor Allied Assault, Medal of Honor Spearhead, Legend of Zelda Four Swords, Legend of Zelda Flute of Time....
I haven't played the zelda games since I beat them. I bought the N64 Zelda (flute one) thinking I'd get back into it cause I loved it on N64 but I just got bored with it, since I knew the story and all. The Four Swords was fun for a bit, but is kind of frusterating as a one player game. Josiah and Super Mesh Rocked the birthday with that gift, but the old must make way for the new. The MOH games were my favorite but after playing call of duty they really pale in comparison. So I'm going to EB games and going to try to get enough moolah in credit to buy both the Metroid Prime 2 game and possibly a nice used game maybe a football game or something fun to play with a few people. We'll see. I might not get enough store credit to part with said games but we'll see. I got a lot last time I traded in a game there so hopefully I'll repeat my past successes. I could sell them on ebay but this might be quicker.
I haven't had much time to blog since the new year. Well I have, but I haven't had much to blog about.
My parentals are coming up for the first time to see the new house. Our schedules have conflicted for pretty much the past year and they haven't been able to see the Holton House. So we're excited to have them up here. Though its a bit of a down time right now as my brother Hunt shipped out at midnight last night so I'm sure a few tears will be shed on his behalf. We'll miss him dearly but look forward to his return.
I haven't posted many pictures lately either. I was talking to Scott today and I'm just pretty all around dissastisfied with my digital camera. I mean its a sony 5 mega pixel deal. Pretty much all my pictures have come out fuzzy or blurry and its been really annoying. I had tons of great pictures over christmas and in san antonio that looked fine when I took them but upon closer inspection are blurry. I'm not sure what the deal is with the camera, I know its not me cause my arms are like stone, I don't move the camera. Its just if someone moves a half inch the shot is ruined. Grrr. I was oohing over Scots's wife's new Cannon, I wish I had gotten a cannon, or even a Canon, they seem to be the best and I've never seen anyone take a bad picture with them. Oh well. Gotta get the house in order before the folks show up.
So we had our second annual Holcrabb New Years extravaganza. Basically the Crabbs and us hang out like two old married couples and watch the ball drop and then goto bed. We played some games and ate some food too, but that was generally all we did, but generally thats all we like to do.
I drank a few beers with the crabb dog early into the night, then with dinner had a glass of red, but then I was starting to get tired and it was only about 8:30 so I drank some coffee... a few cups worth. So now its 2 AM and I'm wired. So thats why I'm posting.
Its been a good year for me I guess. I mean I'm still alive, which is good. I got a house, a dog, and a promotion three huge blessings. Also got a new car, a blessing and a curse--car = blessing, car payment = curse.
Wifey' and i have had a lot of fun and grown a lot as a marrried couple. I've learned that I can't play video games 24/7... granted I should have already learned that one from 03, but hey sometimes we have to relearn things. I learned a lot about trusting God and knowing that there are things you control, and things you can't.
Oh well, enough rambling happy new year