Did you miss me? Yeah didn’t think so. Of course I don’t care. I’m here for me and me only. So F.Y.M.F.!* Moving on.

Still reading, though it’s been slow going since finishing the greatness that is the Harry Potter series. The last two books was pure awesome. Deathly Hallows actually had me crying like the sensitive man that I am. I actually had to stop reading for a minute to compose myself. After I finished the series I meandered through a couple books. I started 3 different books before settling on Interview With a Vampire by Anne Rice. I can’t even remember which 3 books they were. The only one I remember is “Stuff White People Like” by Christian Lander. Pretty funny stuff from what I read, though I’m not sure if it was the white side of me laughing with me, or the black side laughing at me lol. What were the other 2 books?….hmmm. After a quick look at my Kindle the other 2 books were Stephen King’s “The Dark Tower” and The Collected Stories of H. P. Lovecraft: Volume One. Neither grabbed me right away. So I ended up going with what I know, and that’s vampire’s.

Anybody that knows me knows I’m a vampire freak. Love the mythology behind them. With that said, I think I’ve only read one vampire book. That being the incredible I Am Legend by Richard Matheson. Awesome fuckin’ book. Anyway, so I decided on Interview With a Vampire as I had some familiarity with it having seen the movie. It was slow going. Not really a fan of Anne Rice’s writing style. Took about half the book before I could really get into it. After the rough start I really enjoyed it. Even better I didn’t see Tom Cruise as Louis, nor did I see Brad Pitt as Lestat as I read it. I give it a hearty thumbs up. Not sure what I’ll read next.

I’m thinking either the next book in the Vampire Chronicles series or try to read the Dark Tower Series again. Not sure.

In other news, Beatles: Rock Band is pretty glorious and I’m not really a fan. The 3 part harmonies are a stroke of genius as far as plastic instrument games. Also moderately enjoying Guitar Hero 5. Great setlist and the vocals don’t completely suck. My main plastic instrument playing partner is not a fan of GH5 however. Kinda harshes my mellow man.

In other, other news. Still not watching much. Started watching the second season of Chuck finally. Still a fun ass show. Nothing great, but just fun. Also can’t wait for the season finale of True Blood. Shit gonna get craaaazy. Watched the Weeds finale and meh. Still better than the trainwreck that was Season 2.

And finally in other, other, other news. Keanu Reeves is a horrible fuckin’ actor. Not horrible like, “man he’s not very good”. But horrible like, “What the fuck is he doing!? And, “What fuckin’ emotion is he trying to do there?” And, “Is he trying to hold in a fart?” I’m just saying…he sucks.

That is all.

*Obscure reference from the movie Fear of a Black Hat.

It’s been awhile eh? Well you can thank J.K. Rowling and my Kindle. I am now on the 5th Harry Potter book. Yeah, I know. It’s pretty fuckin’ glorious. My favorite thus far is probably The Prisoner of Azkaban with Goblet of Fire running a very close second. That one almost brought a tear to my eye. Then I manned the fuck up and imagined how great it would be to punch a unicorn in the face. I’m a man! That’s all I’ve really done at this point…not punch a unicorn, like midgets, they’re not real. But reading is all I’ve done. I watch the occasional movie when I have company. Ditto that on the gaming. But when I’m alone, I do my damndest to get lost in a book. After I finish the Harry Potter series I’m gonna read The Last Battle by C.S. Lewis. Then it’s a toss up. I’ll probably just pick some book at random. I love my Kindle!

Movie wise, I’ve watched Hancock, Infernal Affairs, Van Wilder and Murder in the First. Quick reviews…

Hancock – A tale of two movies. They tried to cram two movies into one and it didn’t work out too well. First half, pretty damn good. Second half was a mess. Super cheesy ending. I would’ve left the whole super-powered (ex)wife for the sequel. Could’ve better, could have been worse. Rental at best. I give it a C.

Infernal Affairs – One of my favorite movies. Departed with Leonardo Dicaprio is based on this movie. Not much needs be said. One of my favorite movies so it must be good. Doesn’t hurt that it stars my two favorite Asian actors in Andy Lau and Tony Leung. Watch it bitches. Unless of course you’re one of those douschebags that don’t be likin’ them there foreign movies with their ching chang chong shit. To that I say fuck you.

Van Wilder – Has hands down the most revolting scene in cinematic history and it is glorious. Good, mindless, “teen” comedy. In the same vein of movies such as American Pie.

Murder in the First – Haven’t actually finished it. But who knows when I’ll blog again. What I’ve seen is pretty good. I really like Kevin Bacon and Gary Oldman. Couple of fine actors. Loosely based on a true story…very loosely according to wiki. Worth a viewing, not so much a purchase.

Gaming wise, I’m mostly playing Halo 3 and Rock Band 2. I did just get NCAA Football and it’s pretty glorious. Lot of little glitches in the gameplay. Seems kinda rushed, but I’m still enjoying it a lot.

TV Wise I’ve been slacking. Watching True Blood. Not great, but just bad enough and funny to keep watching and still better than that Twilight shit. Also watching Weeds. Better than last season but that’s not saying much.

That’s it for me. Next time I’ll have pictures and whatnot.

That is all.

I’ve still yet to receive my 360 coffin so I can send the sumbitch in to be fixed…again. Sometime this week, I’m gonna go out and get me a new 360 with the new “falcon” chip. Hopefully it’ll last longer than 6 months at a time.

In the meanwhile I decided to install Battle For Middle Earth II on my laptop. I’ve had it awhile but for some reason or another it wouldn’t work. Now it works like a charm. Fun little RTS. I suck at it but I’m having fun and that’s good enough for me. I had played it on the 360 when it came out and didn’t realize until the last level that I could build walls. The whole game I was thinking, what RTS doesn’t let you build a fuckin’ wall!? Doh! Anywho, I’m having a blast with it.

Also been playing alot of Xenogears. Great fuckin’ game. I missed it it’s first go around. I was all about Suikoden and Wild Arms around that time. The story in Xenogears is awesome. How did this game not get the politico’s up in arms or did I just miss it. I don’t think it would make it in this day and age and that’s a damn shame. Hell, Mass Effect was getting blasted by some stupid bitch on Fox News(yeah I know) for a 15 second PG-13 “sex scene”. For the record, I’m only calling her a stupid bitch because she was part of a round table discussion as an “expert” on the subject. And not only did she NOT play the game, but she didn’t even see the scene in question before spouting her garbage. There’s worse shit every night on prime time TV. Bitch…don’t be fuckin with my games!

Where was I? Oh yeah, Xenogears is rockin’ my fuckin’ socks off.

That is all.

Well, my 360 has died on me again. In the middle of Mass Effect there were suddenly black lines all over the screen. I turn it off, back on and get one red light with a system error message on screen. Do the trouble shooting I found from searching online, nada. It’s a goner. Time to send in my 3rd 360 and get another refurb that’ll die on me within’ a year.

If the PS3′s lineup wasn’t such crap I’d just say fuck the 360, but it’s just so much fun. Maybe it’s time to go for the newer 360′s with the cooler “falcon” chip.

To top all that off, my Lacie external hard drive will not power on. 90+ gigs of comics…gone. Gonna be impossible to find all those again especially with demonoid.com out of commission.

All this after my Alienware laptop saga. Chronicled Here, and Here

And here is the error screen…

Well, I finished Mass Effect and it was one of the most satisfying gaming experiences I’ve ever had. It had a great ending while still setting up the inevitable sequel. I can’t wait for it. I’m gonna start another play through tomorrow, this time with a female. I used a pistol the entire first play through and went almost totally Paragon. Think I’ll go with assault rifle/sniper and Renegade this time. Love, love, love this game….

…I still want another Knights of the Old Republic.

There’s always at least one game a year that has me totally awestruck, and googly eyed. Last year it was Oblivion. I’d play it for hours at a time, never doing a thing, never realizing how long I’ve played it. Hell, most of the time was spent looting caves and hunting vampires. I closed MAYBE 3 Oblivion gates. Important thing was, I had fun…tons.

The year before that was Knights of the Old Republic II. Flawed? Yes. Fun? Fuck yeah! I’ve played through it atleast 5X. Twice on the light side, thrice, on the dark. So much more fun being evil. By the way. The first time I played the original KotOR, I played the light side. The next play through, I went dark side…and felt soooo bad and guilty about it. I actually had moral issues over it lol. I got over it though as I embraced the dark side like a long lost lover. Fun times, fun times indeed. Lucas Arts/Obsidian/BioWare need to get off their asses and give me another sequel. The good news is BioWare has been busy as they are behind “My new crack”…Mass Effect.

I’m 99% sure that Mass Effect is my new crack. Got it today, and played it 5 hours straight before I realized it. Very similar in the layout to KotOR. Main difference being, Mass Effect is a free roaming action RPG, where as KotOR was a free roaming traditional RPG. The graphics are bee-yoo-tee-ful, and the voice acting is top-notch. As with most games of this type, I’ve yet to really touch the main mission/story thus far. Doing the side quests and whatnot. Anyway, I’m out. Pick up Mass Effect if you even remotely liked the KotOR games. You will not be disappointed.

…I just geeked out. Watched the third disc of Escaflowne. If it keeps going as is, it might actually get bought. I’m very picky on what anime I buy. Mostly due to cost, but anime is so diverse and most of it annoys the fuck out of me.

Right now, I only own 4 complete series. Berserk(great until the final disc), Trigun(fuckin’ awesome), Cowboy Bebop(Fuckin’ awesomer with a killer soundtrack), Neon Genesis Evangelion(good, but can be/is confusing) and one series I’ve yet to complete(but fully plan to) in Full Metal Alchemist. Only movies I really own are Studio Ghibli…loooove Hayao Miyazaki! Also have Wicked City(good, but not as into it as I was 10 years ago), Vampire Hunter D(love it), and Ninja Scroll(First anime I ever saw and bought it before I knew what good anime was).

Continuing with the geekfest, I read the first 2 volumes of Warren Ellis’ Transmetropolitan TPB and Spider Jerusalem is the coolest motherfucker ever. Just great stuff. An example of Spider’s eloquence with the english language…

Spider talking to the President…
“You’ve got your vote for hate, and I’ve got a column. And I’m not gonna rest until your raped, burned, castrated, and dog shit stuffed corpse is strung up in the middle of century square for the necrophile boys to play with”

Pure genius lol. His attack on religion was fuckin’ great and even profound in it’s own way. I want a Spider Jerusalem figure like yesterday.

and to end my geekfest, some Halo 3, Marvel Ultimate Alliance, and Overlord on my 360.

Now I’ve manned up, and currently watching Texas vs Arizona State in the Holiday Bowl.