Interviewing people at Saranac Lake Tomorrow.

Including somewhat famous comedian Moody McCarthy.

http://www.moodymccarthy.com/

My public access cable show is gonna ROCK!

Huh.

So it's interesting to note that a random artist I followed from high school to now is moving onto a new project.

She really just pushed through and did a ton of amazing things.

I think I really need to work on my own creative stuff and not cave in.

It's really easy to get into the rut of work - eat - sleep.

Goldeneye

http://cdn-i.dmdentertainment.com/funpages/cms_content/18370/goldeneye-checklist_FINAL.jpg

I played RE 5!

Wow. So first Dragon Age and now this!

Resident Evil 5 was on massive clearance at the local Target store. So I decided to buy it for a few bucks thinking that there might be a slim chance it might work on my computer.

It DOES! Amazingly well!

I don't know why software companies have the minimum specs set so high.

In any case it was pretty much the same game as RE4 with a few new features. I didn't like the partner thing... I mean in RE 0 you were on your own for a good portion of the game. It would have been nice to keep that feeling of being alone that the other games in the series captured.

It was honestly a bit of pain to keep making sure that Sheva had enough ammo. She never died (Except in a few rare cases where she her programming made her suicide) but when you wanted her to attack it seemed she went through ammo pretty quickly.

Too many quick time events.

Too many enemies with one hit kills. Instead of making the game hard like the original titles it made it cheap.

Still overall a fun game and I played the whole thing.

*spoilers*

I feel sad that they had to finish off Wesker. He was a great character and was awesome throughout the whole series. It seemed weird that such a cool headed guy would go crazy and try an insane take over the world thing.

The Call.

http://img40.imageshack.us/img40/5286/chuckbeatsberlusconi.jpg

Finally someone spells it all out.

http://wondermark.com/c/2009-10-30-566nouns.gif

FMV games coming back?

http://www.joystiq.com/2009/12/03/interview-mystery-case-files-dire-groves-adrian-woods-on-the/#continued

I guess my idea of a FMV adventure game on the Dreamcast wasn't so bad after all!

Yahtzee shares my general opinion about multiplayer.

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/columns/extra-punctuation/6832-Extra-Punctuation-On-Multiplayer

I was so bummed when I realized that Quake 3 was pretty much multiplayer only.

Everything2 is pretty awesome.

http://everything2.com/title/Gloomy+Sunday

Tonight I shall dine as a king...

http://everything2.com/title/HC.SVNT.DRACONES

Dragon Age.

So GOOD.

I only played like 3 hours this weekend and it was still very awesome.

I keep hearing that the 360 version really isn't as good as the PC one. I can't believe they don't have a Tab key function and they can't zoom out. I can only assume that the people who bought it on the Xbox are pissed.

The game runs really nicely on my PC.

Dragon Age

Dragon Age is great and it works well on my crappy computer.

This is one of those times where I am glad that PC games are getting dumbed down for the Xbox 360 and PS3.

The story is pretty awesome and it's fun to play an RPG where a rogue can kick ass.

Normally I just play a general pick locks, spot traps and backstab type of character. This is fun and all but I hated it when my character would be weak as hell when fighting other people.

This game allows you to be a rogue that can kick a ton of ass.

HomeStuck.

http://www.mspaintadventures.com/?s=6

Very nice time killer.

Sweet advert for a bog standard rail shooter.

http://www.gametrailers.com/video/experience-the-darkside/57808










(you can actually use your mouse to shoot the zombies in the video...)

Fedor knocks the crap out of Rogers

I got out my .25 cent amplified TV antennae out to watch this fight. I got the antenna at a garage sale. It works really well with ABC and NBC. Crystal Clear. I was very happy and I am glad I spent the quarter. This is the first time I watched TV on in awhile.


Rogers cut open Fedor's nose with a jab (which was pretty impressive) but couldn't do much else. A rematch? Roger's didn't earn it.

Fedor is a machine. I can't wait to see his next match.

This is what 8th graders in the US used to know...

http://www.blackinformant.com/education/are-you-smarter-than-a-1954-8th-grader

Kitten Mittens.

Torchlight

This game has gotten some very good press from RockPaperShotgun and Penny Arcade.

However most of the major "gaming news" places have not mentioned it much.

Why the hate towards a single player game?

I LIKE single player games. Reviewers like Yahtzee like single player games.

Why so much buzz about multi-player crap?

There are some good multiplayer games out there but honestly the single player experience is NOT DEAD.

And don't get me started about the whole "Needing Internet Access to Install a Single Player Game" thing. (And not have any internet requirements on the box.)

BULL!

This used to be a sidekick.

Great Show.

The whole dumpster diver part really hits close to home.

A nice moment.

Perhaps this was not as cool as people would lead us to believe but it was something.

http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/worldview/091027/czechoslovakia-east-germany-fall-communism?page=0,0

Let's try to remember when Westernized culture meant BOOKS. East Germans lined up to buy BOOKS!

Let's not let the corporate culture and political bullshit that is happening in the West make us think that it's too late for good things to happen.

Help other people throw off ignorance rather than revel in it like the vast majority of the population of the US. And YES that includes most of the ignorant slobs who voted for Obama or McCain.

There is something better to strive for. People CAN be better than they are in every way. Don't listen to the defeatists who claim that we have already sunken too far.

Get out there. Do something in the community. Make something creative that other people will see. Help someone. Do something to point out the real problems. LEARN HISTORY.

Support your local public library.

The idea of "The West" shouldn't call up images of some Corporate CEO or greedy false Politician grinding his boot into the face of some hardworking everyman. It shouldn't conjure up images of needless wars that are being fought for the wrong reasons.

Let's all remember when for some people "The West" meant BOOKS and freedom for knowledge, ideas and information.

A Hedgehog dressed up like Dracula

Yep.

My brother in law actually had a hedgehog once. He got his head stuck in a cardboard tube once. Such a cute little guy. He also like running around and digging into stuff.

http://www.metro.co.uk/weird/article.html?Drunk_hedgehog_taken_to_hospital&in_article_id=759898&in_page_id=2

Sonic?

Zombie Walk

These afterimage things are so weird.

http://i.imgur.com/CLvcc.gif

Video Game Pumpkins

http://ceemdee.deviantart.com/gallery/#Pumpkin-Art

Video Games:

I am currently replaying some games and I am considering filming a "Let's Play" of some Dreamcast games. I also have an Xbox hooked up in my Bedroom and I have been playing some games like Ninja Gaiden Black and Black. I played a HUGE chunk of Kingdom Hearts when I was sick. I am amazing how much there is to that game.

Baccano!

Do yourself a favor and watch Baccano! before it's pulled at the end of Oct.

Awesome dub. Great Characters. The show makes no sense at first and it will take about 5 episodes before it does. It's alright though because it's SUPPOSED to be like that.

There are so many characters and plot lines that mix up you think that it will never come together but in the end it DOES.

http://www.hulu.com/baccano

Top Gear in the South.

Wow. I didn't think it was made up.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/driving/features/article6858884.ece?token=null&offset=0&page=1

VS

Contra VS Duck Hunt


Sonic VS Pac Man

Someone might have missed this game.

http://armorgames.com/play/4309/this-is-the-only-level

Damn.

Conan Obrien Hits His Head.

Wow. He really smashes his head.



Remember people if you fall back learn to turtle up and tuck your head forward.

Any basic class or book on Judo is a great way to learn how to fall.

Randomness in Games

http://playthisthing.com/randomness-blight-or-bane

Nice little collection of slides that go along with a presentation about randomness in gameplay.

Pulled from RPS.

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/

Plants VS Zombies. Green Thumbs Up!

So I saw that this game was in stores now. Target had it on sale $14.99 compared to the regular $20 price. So I had to bite.

This is a great game.

I have only played "Tower Defense" mingames in the past but this is really more in depth.

Also the level of humor in the game is amazing. There are a lot of great touches.

Easy to play but the games gets more depth quickly. This is not your average casual gamer game.

If you can find a deal on this game BUY it.

http://www.popcap.com/games/pvz/

They are called Coy-Dogs...

http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2009/09/22/coyote-wolf.html

I have know about these things for years because they live behind my parent's house.

(The pups makes a hell of a lot of racket)

My video:

Makes me want to go play some S.T.A.L.K.E.R.

http://sdmobile.livejournal.com/19843.html#cutid1

Awesome costumes.

L…l…look at you, hacker: a p-pa-pathetic creature of meat and bone

I just finished System Shock 2.

It's an amazing game! I really thought that it might suffer from having a great start but little substance during the ending levels but I was VERY wrong. Shodan has to be one of the best characters I have seen in a video game yet. If you have not read the following article than please read it.

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2009/08/12/the-girl-who-wanted-to-be-god

I was worried that I wouldn't be able to run this game on my newer computer but a bunch of patches, fixes and some manual typing to get my video card to work with the game later I was running it.

What can I say, it's ten years old and it's still GREAT. I can fully see myself replaying this game again in the winter playing as a Psi-class character.

DeathSpank!

1up interview and pretty pictures.

http://www.1up.com/do/minisite?cId=3175824

Sixteen Miles to Merricks

Awesome.

Check it out.

http://somefield.com/merricks_online/index.html

Annoying People in Movie Theaters.

http://www.latinoreview.com/news/el-guapo-hates-you-the-moviegoing-general-public-7750

For all you young people out there please note that it wasn't always like this.

When I was a teen I could go to the movies with friends and there would be no noise during the film other than a few quiet muffled gasps at shocking parts. It was actually quite jarring to go outside of the theater afterward because you forgot you were sitting in a room full of people.

It was quiet nice.

However, it seems like people nowadays treat movies like a spectator sport and like to talk to their friends and type on their phones which light up and distract anyone who is trying to watch the damned MOVIE.

Zombie Webcomics

Well I could actually include a bunch of different webcomics where zombies are a reoccurring theme (Sluggy Freelance, ect.), but I think I will keep this restricted to straight up ZOMBIE WECOMICS.


Number one, Dead Winter.

http://deadwinter.cc/

This one has an interesting/weird art style that actually threw me off at first but I kept reading it and it was a pretty fun story. It says something when the character I root most for is a cold blooded killer named "Black Monday Blues". Nothing to take very seriously here. Interesting to note that the most dangerous character so far is an uninfected obese short order cook.

Number two, Last Blood.

http://www.lastblood.net/

Vampires VS Zombies. Really how much plot and character development do you need for a concept like this? Before getting into some pretty convoluted plot points this is a great read. Zombies are killing all the humans and without humans there is no blood. So Vampires have to step up and kick some undead ass. Best part is when one barbaric vampire starts killing zombies by biting their brains to "beat them at their own game".

Number three, Everyday Decay.

Everyday Decay

Sweet title. Nice little webcomic. The art has gotten better throughout it's run. The characters are a bit confusing and I really don't understand if they act the way they do because everyone who is still living is batshit insane for some reason or if the writer trying too hard. As usual the worst offenders are not zombies but asshole/insane humans. There is also a little toy dog in this webcomic that I find pretty annoying. Such USELESS noisy animals would have never survived the zombie apocalypse.

And last but not least, Number four, The Zombie Hunters

The Zombie Hunters

Great webcomic with a ton of character development and compelling story. It's interesting to note that this comic features several types of zombies. I suggest you read the introduction and zombie glossary to get up to speed. So pretty much every type of "zombie" is represented within. An excellent read.

(sadly the zombie hunters website is currently down)

If you happen to know of another great zombie webcomic please let me know!

And of course if you want a really great in-print zombie webcomic please check out The Walking Dead. I ordered if for my library and everyone seems to love it.


PS -

Speaking of undead things, please do not forget to vote in the Dreamcast top 100 event!

Tim Langdell is abusing the system.

God I HATE it when people use the system like this.

http://kotaku.com/5273141/trademark-troll-gets-mobigames-edge-taken-down

http://kotaku.com/5312534/trademark-troll-is-at-it-again

This guy produces NOTHING. Literally ALL he does is extort money out of people using the word "edge" in the title of their game. That's how he earns his money.

THEN he has the nerve to say that Mobigames has tried to defame his company. The two bit company that has done NOTHING but try to get money out of people who use the word edge in the title of their video games. How the hell does he have the nerve.

http://kotaku.com/5334971/tim-langdell-defends-self-in-open-letter-to-mobigame

Nobody has ever heard of his company before this.

All this guy is doing is abusing the system and trying to get money from other people's hard work.

It sickens me.

Hyper-realistic paintings.

http://www.thetoyzone.com/2009/blog/10-awesome-images-that-are-actually-paintings/

Amazing.

Interview with the House of the Underdogs creator.

http://www.reviewwithextremeprejudice.com/?page_id=38

Great interview. Awesome site. I think I found it back in 2002 or 2003. Fun times. I got a copy of Daggerfall from it which in turn piqued my interest in later games like Morrowind and Oblivion.

Link grabbed from Rock Paper Shotgun.

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2009/08/02/the-sunday-papers-79/

Weapons of the Natural World.

Every once in awhile Cracked will put out a decent animal facts article.

This is one of them.

http://www.cracked.com/article_17612_6-most-badass-murder-weapons-in-animal-kingdom.html

A SHRIMP has a SONIC GUN built into it's claw. A sonic gun. Another type of shrimp can punch through aquarium glass!!!! Nature is amazing.

Big Lots DVD box set fiasco

So Big Lots got in some VERY low priced DVD box sets in this week. Pretty much ALL Warner Brothers stuff. There were even some Blu-Ray box sets.

I was wondering how the hell they could sell entire seasons of hit shows for $6 to $3 each...? I mean where the hell do you even GET stuff like that?

Then I read this story.

"Warner Bros. Sues Company a California-based company it had contracted to destroy two million surplus DVDs, according to the Hollywood Reporter. The suit alleges that IWMB did not destroy the merchandise, but instead sold the surplus DVDs and Blu-Ray discs to a third party, who sold them at significantly discounted prices. It is estimated that 750,000 of the stolen discs were sold, and 250,000 remain unaccounted for."

Hmm...

Something is fishy here.

The DVD's of Animaniacs and Veronica Mars I picked up may have been destined for a landfill.

It's kind of sad but instead of pricing these shows to move they destroy extra inventory to assure that people will be buying the boxed sets at inflated prices for years to come. It's a shame really. Companies shouldn't artificially inflate prices of old shows. They should put money and effort into creating NEW stuff.

Simon's Cat

Hitler is upset at Blizzard.

Bic Ballpoint Pen Drawings.

Amazing.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-511688/Simply-birolliant--incredible-10ft-photographs-drawn-ballpoint-pen.html

Does Anyone Else Want a Full Poster Made of This?

http://fc08.deviantart.com/fs49/i/2009/199/8/4/Computer_hardware_poster_1_7_by_Sonic840.png

Just me then?

Shopping on Ebay

I bought an item from ebay that supports a charitable organization.

They already have shipped my item and sent me a nice thank you note!

Wow.

It's amazing that there would be NO WAY I could get that same level of niceness from a corporate online store.


And ANOTHER sniper program outbid me on an item...

...jerks.

Are You Afraid of the Dark?

What a great little show this was.

Basically it was a 30 minute horror program for young kids. (Try creating something like that today...)

Most of the stories had a happy ending but some of them DIDN'T.

http://www.toplessrobot.com/2009/07/the_10_creepiest_are_you_afraid_of_the_dark_episod.php?page=2

Witcher gets ANOTHER patch. Yaay!

I bought my original game at a flea market/pawn shop store and went right out and bough the Enhanced Edition when that came into the stores.

I mean COME ON. Isn't that a great argument AGAINST DRM!?!?!?

Any other newer title I wouldn't have bought used since I would be worried about max installs and shit.

The way Witcher was set up prompted me to go out and Buy a new copy right away!

So this new patch give the US gamers the European (i.e. REAL) version of the game as well as extra missions and gets rid of the DRM for the game.

Nice.

Can't wait for this to come out so I can install it and play the game as it was meant to be played.

http://www.thewitcher.com/community/

Fedor

This guy is the real deal. Unlike all the pretty boys and uncoordinated monsters out there this guy gets in there and destroys people. He is also a good sportsman about it as well.

Honestly the best clip is when he gets slammed on his head and he just shakes it off and submits the other guy.

I would not want to fight this particular Russian.

The Elder Scrolls DaggerFall. FREE!

I still have my save game on my P2 running Win98.

Grab it while it's still free!

http://www.elderscrolls.com/downloads/downloads_games.htm

You are gonna need DosBox to play this.

http://www.dosbox.com/

Sweet!

Gammy Git Status Confirmed yet again.

So I was watching SpoonyOne review Phantasmagoria 2 and I was thinking to myself that it's a damn shame that I never finished Phantasmagoria. I have the first disk which I assume is some sort of demo thing.

http://www.spoonyexperiment.com/

So I go to the local Church Thrift shop and what do I find???

Phantasmagoria. MINT all 7 disks.


Price?


$2.00

Not bad considering mint copies go for about $25 online.

I also got Gabriel Knight 2 and Lighthouse.

Another great RPS article.

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2009/07/08/gaming-made-me-3-kieron-gillengthily-played/#more-14348

Very nice article. Echos my own views on MUDs and such.

Slim Jim Factory Explodes.

http://blogs.moneycentral.msn.com/topstocks/archive/2009/07/06/is-slim-jim-an-endangered-species.aspx

Man when I was younger and healthier I used to enjoy an occasional Slim Jim. (The best snack ever to included mechanically separated chicken)

Now the factory has EXPLODED and people are hoarding the remaining stockpiles of the salty snack.

I am somewhat torn here. I know I can't eat them because they are horribly high in sodium and fat (and really can't be considered food actually)

But if this is THE END of the Slim Jim as we know it (Made in America).

I might just pick up one of those spicy combinations of jerky and sausage to keep for a future snack.

Indiana Jones on Cinemassacre

Watch the bit at the end.

CineMassacre: The Top 10 Dumbest Indiana Jones Moments | Movies & TV | SPIKE.com

I had NO idea that Indiana Jones pretty much ripped off everything from the old adventure movies from the 30's. I mean they actually had FULL SCENES that were exactly the same as the old movies.

Sheeze. I should just copy some genre of movie from 50 years ago...

Sakura Wars coming to US!

http://www.seganerds.com/2009/07/05/sakura-wars-coming-to-north-america-on-2-discs/

I never played this game but as a Sega Fan I always kept hearing about it.

I hope this will come out on the PS2.

That would be great.

There is only that Silent Hill remake to look forward to.

No LAN for Starcraft 2...??????????????

WHAT!!?!?!?!?!?!?!

WHY?
WHY?
WHY?
WHY?
WHY?
WHY?
WHY?
WHY?
WHY?
WHY?
WHY?
WHY?
WHY?
WHY?
WHY?
WHY?
WHY?
WHY?
WHY?
WHY?
WHY?
WHY?
WHY?
WHY?
WHY?

I have bought like 3 different copies of the first game. BECAUSE IT'S LAN READY!!!

It's one of the ONLY games that still sells DECADES after it's been released BECAUSE of it's LAN popularity.

And now Blizzard is taking that away?

What if you don't have the best bandwidth and you just want to play a bunch of your friends in the same room???

WHY?

This is the worst decision since limited installs DRM.

This is NOT going to effect pirates AT ALL. Just like limited installs didn't effect pirated copies. Blizzard is just punishing it's customers for no reason.

GEEZE. I was so looking forward to getting two copies of this game to set up for the video game tournament.

Now?

Well it looks like I have no reason to get ANY copies of this game.

Play Cave Story

Download the Deluxe Package and try it out.

http://www.miraigamer.net/cavestory/downloads_1.php

It's AWESOME. The best side scroller I have played in a long time.

Trap the Cat.

I got that Cat trapped very quickly.

http://www.members.shaw.ca/gf3/circle-the-cat.html

I rock at games like this. I just do.

Jeffererson Bible prompts fascinating debate.

Amazing really.

The bible is such an interesting collection of books. It's sad that "true believers" in this country really don't know that much about it and atheist minded people dismiss it out of hand.

The Jefferson Bible book prompted some interesting mini-debates in Digg.

http://digg.com/educational/Jefferson_Bible_reveals_Founding_Father_s_view_of_God_faith

The "Jefferson Bible" is basically a bible that he cut up and pasted together again omitting the miracles and keeping the moral lessons (he was a Deist).

That prompted this comment:

"I wonder if he included Revelation 22:19: "And if anyone takes words away from this book of prophecy, God will take away from him his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book.""

That in turn prompted the following comments:

"Too bad plenty of words have already been taken away due to multiple translations."

"This passage refers to the book of Revelation. Revelation was written in 96 AD, while the Council of Nicaea put the Canon (the Bible) together in 325 AD. The writer of Revelation had no clue that his letter would be included in the Canon (or that there would even be a Canonizing) , and therefore was not referring to the rest of the Bible."

"You guys beat me to it but you are correct - that passage refers ONLY to the Book of Revelations. The New Testament itself is a collection of writings by different authors selected by a counsel of religious elders (not God). The Bible in essence is basically like a "Reader's Digest" of early Christian writings, prophesies and gospels that were deemed to be divinely inspired by the elders of the early Church."

Lol at the Bible being called a "Readers Digest" because honestly that's pretty much what it is.

Someone else tried to pull out another quote pertaining to not changing the Bible which others noted was clearly aimed at Moses and the Ten Commandments not the Bible which was put together a good deal later.

...it's somewhat sad how some people view the Bible. It's NOT the actual physical word of God. It's something HUMAN BEINGS actually wrote down. And Human Beings can easily twist things around for their own benefit and make mistakes. Especially when you consider how many changes and translations that book has gone through.

Do we really want to miss out on the real moral messages of the book though?

Jefferson tried to make sense of the thing in his own way and edited it. Nowadays, people recoil from that because they put the value of a physical book over the ACTUAL IDEAS that are in that book. The vast majority of ignorant people in the USA who say they cling to traditional values of this country and religion know very little about the founders of this country and the book they worship as the divine truth.

Isn't that sad?

Isn't that a huge step back?

Cats and Catnip.

Am I the only one who thinks this is hilarious to watch?

Buffy VS Edward Cullen.

Yep. That's pretty much what would happen to that pretty boy stalker.

The Internet.

Really.

http://imgur.com/gQouk.jpg

Nikola Telsa

What a guy.

http://www.cracked.com/funny-284-nikola-tesla/

It pisses me off we all learn about that hack Edison. It's pretty much because Edison was good at self promotion, marketing and such (including copyrighting stuff). Telsa definitely contributed more to society.

Telsa came up with Alternating Current! He is the reason you are able to power your computer and read this!

Plus he might have built a death ray...

All this and he was celibate to boot!

http://harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=61

Vinnie Jones.

Attack Cardio with Vinnie Jones from Vinnie Jones

What get's me the most is the monogrammed VJ on his jacket. Such a nice touch.

RockPaperShotgun

An AMAZING video game blog.

They cover really good stuff that nobody else seems to write about.

INCLUDING:

Action Half Life 2 coming out! (Action Half Life was one of my favorite mods to play back in college. This article also contains a link to a story about the original game).

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2009/06/08/action-half-life-2-the-sauce-of-death/#more-12729

"The Path" demo is coming out. It looks interesting!

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/tag/the-path/

So yeah. Some interesting articles coming out from that site. Check it out.

Nick Tahou's has got a Wikipedia Page.

Wow.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nick_Tahou_Hots

I dunno if this is a good thing or a bad thing...

Sleevefacing

You take a record album and hold it up and...

http://protinuss.com/bringing-album-covers-to-life/

New Doomsday Arcade is about Polybius!

Nice.



Some nice little jokes thrown in there. I personally loved all the little camera shots during the opening scene. Can you tell what movies are being paid homage there?

I really got to get cracking on my Public Access TV show.

Webcomics: Scary Go Round.

http://scarygoround.com/index.php?date=20090616

The Esther character is written to be sorta a jerk sometimes.

Or is it just an exercise in showing how someone can be inappropriate to the point of being insensitive and just be unaware of it?

In any case I was in a similar situation in high school and I do not have fond memories of that time.

Guy Applies for 300 jobs. Gets 8 interviews.

http://www.esquire.com/features/best-job-searches-0709?src=digg

Well. That sucked for him.

This makes me feel a bit better about the 100 or so resumes I sent out.

Hmm...let me consider some of my work experience.

The first real job I had was managing my own food stand at a softball diamond. Not food inspectors or anything like that. Good times.

Then I got a lifeguard and Water safety Instructor gig. I was good at teaching kids how to swim and telling people to stay safe.

I know for a FACT that I didn't get a low paying job in the food industry because I was over-qualified as soon as they find out you went to college it's a no-good.

If it wasn't for a personal contact I never would have got my assistant manager gig at that gas station chain. ( I never got a raise. People doing less work than me got paid $3 more per hour than I did. At the time I wanted to blame the Female management but now I assume it was mostly because I had a college degree.)

I had to lie to people and say that someone else was going to hire me to get the Deli job.

I just got lucky with my Officemax job. I think the management heard the desperation in my voice.

I lied on my resume to get the TV production job (omitted masters degree)

Food: Offal Makes a Comeback.

http://www.divinecaroline.com/22145/76526-forgotten-meats-making-comeback--it-s/

So that little bit of Chicken or Turkey that hangs near the tail is called a "Pope's Nose". Interesting.

I have always loved cooking up the "gizzards" (neck, heart, liver) of a chicken when we had barbecues. Slow cook them in tin foil with oil and vinegar for a long time. Very nice.

I am calling it. Natal will fail.

http://kotaku.com/5287069/natal-launch-will-be-as-big-as-360s

Natal will not work.

It's as simple as that.

We have been promised THIS EXACT SAME THING time and time again from MANY different game companies.

The control method NEVER works well enough.

I fail to understand why the hell the hype machine is picking this up. Is MS putting some money in the right pockets or something?

This whole thing will be a big flop or a huge disappointment like the Wii was for real gamers.

And understand I think the Xbox 360 is a friggen AWESOME console. It have some great games.

Awesome Video Game Mural from the Army of Trolls Guy

Large size.

Lots of stuff in there.

http://cache.gawker.com/assets/images/kotaku/2009/06/edgecity.jpg

I fear for the future of the human race.

I mean these movies were OK but...

http://www.dailyfill.com/Pixar-vs-the-Rest-24248/

Wow.

Cute asian girl just flirted with me at work.

Just thought you might like to know.

(...is my nose bleeding?)

The Revenger.

Important Things with Demetri Martin
Power - The Revenger
comedycentral.com
Joke of the Day Stand-Up Comedy Free Online Games

People ALWAYS Think I am Working in the Stores I am Shopping in.

So true...

Click to view.



From the Customer's suck webcomic!

I am totally pre-ordering the new Money Island Series from Telltale Games.

You get the collectors DVD when they finish uploading all the episodes, get free art from Steve Prucell AND you get a free game download!

Sweet!

http://www.telltalegames.com/monkeyisland

American Godzilla VS The Real Godzilla

...Gets his ass handed to him in about 12 seconds.

Doubt the Sega Genesis Game.

I knew the Lonely Island had to be Sega fans!

MTV Shows

Baby Otters.

Otters are awesome.

Cinamassacre Documentary.

This really makes me want to continue to make media projects.

Bump Post

Bump

Bumpety




Bump.








(Spike TV video was too big)

Cinemassacre documentaries on Spike TV

CineMassacre: Alien Invader Movies (and Their Remakes) - Part III | Movies & TV | SPIKE.com

The Host.

A great Korean movie!

It really takes some of the best aspects of the old giant Monster Movies like Godzilla and King Kong and mixes in some great horror aspects as well.

Old Movie Posters.

Another great collection of old Sci-fi and horror movie posters.

http://www.darkroastedblend.com/2009/05/thrilling-vintage-movie-posters.html

I followed a link on that site and saw this picture as well.

French actress Brigitte Bardot.

Damn.

Classic Subway V-Cut

All this time I thought I was the only one to obsess over the way submarine sandwiches are cut...

http://spine.stevedinn.com/article.php?sid=670

My personal feeling is that Subway stopped cutting the sandwiches like this because it takes a bit of training to learn how to to do a V-cut. Any minimum wage loser can do a crappy hinge cut.

When I make a sandwich at home I cut the bread in the proper manner.

MS paint creations

http://www.techeblog.com/index.php/tech-gadget/6-amazing-ms-paint-masterpieces

True Blood opening.

Yeah it might have been worth the $33 just for the opening. (That and seeing Lizzy Caplan naked)



Compare it to the opening I made in 2001. Skip to 1:35 of this the following video.



Or compare it to the promo for my vampire flick in 2003.

Tru Blood on sale Best Buy 32.99

I didn't really know that much about this show.

I had read one book by Charlaine Harris, the author whose books were the inspiration for the show.

All I knew was that I have NO TV and needed some DVDs.

(Long story: my TV worked at picking up digital signals with a digital receiver box until TWO WEEKS before the transition. [The US switched over from analog signals to digital awhile back] Then it stopped working and all the fancy amplified antennas were sold out in stores. It turns out that they switched broadcasting towers along with switching from analog to digital or something. Why the hell did they sent out the digital signal from a different location before they switched??? If I was getting digital signals less than a month before the change WHY the hell would I assume I had to change anything with my setup??? Back in Watertown NY when I was working at the TV station we had our digital signal up and running 6 months before the switch. The only change was that we were going to shut down the analog signal. Everyone who was getting the digital signal before the changeover was all set. WHY PUT OUT A DIGITAL SIGNAL THEN CHANGE IT TWO FRAKKING WEEKS BEFORE THE SWITCHOVER! People like me who were getting a crystal clear digital signal would ASSUME that they were all set. I was so disgusted with the TV stations Freaking stupidity that I stopped using my TV. Thus the need for DVDs.)


So in any case I was interested in getting DVDs and this one was on sale.

Tru Blood is a pretty interesting little premise. Vampires are coming out of the coffin since there is a synthetic blood being produced that allows them to live without harming humans.

A vampire moves into a small town and meets a waitress who is much more than meets the eye.

This series is almost ruined by the horrible acting of some of it's stars. I won't name names.

However, it is saved by Anna Paquin.

Not only is she the cutest actress I have noticed in awhile SHE CAN ACTUALLY ACT.

So even though some of the dialog is off and and some of the plot is stupid and the acting of the majority of the bit players is God-awful she makes it work somehow.

I have only watched the first few episodes. It may get better. It may get worse. I dunno.

I figure it's worth $33 though.

As a side note this show has the sort of opening that I might have created back in college. It's got B-roll footage of a dead possum, naked breasts, a decaying fox being eaten by maggots, snakes, a girl dancing....ect.

Very interesting stuff actually. I am glad someone was able to come up with something original for a title sequence.

Play him off Keyboard Cat.

Such a good Meme.

http://playhimoffkeyboardcat.com/

Keyboard cat was on the Colbert Report!

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	M - Th 11p / 10c
Daily/Colbert - Keyboard Cat
thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Economic Crisis Political Humor

I was 7 years ahead of the Internet

Making fun of black Wolf T-shirts.

http://digg.com/odd_stuff/OMG_The_Reviews_of_this_T_Shirt_on_Amazon

Yes. Well SOME of us were making fun of those T-shirts back in 2002!



Yep. That's me. It's a wolf Tshirt just like in the Digg article (but only one wolf). I also used it in another skit and wore it as a Halloween costume once.

My sense of humor is so far into the future nobody will EVER understand me...

PC game finds at Gamestop.

I was looking for Dawn of War Platinum edition and I found a few gems.

I got Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth For a Mere $9.99. Awesome!

I have been looking for this game for awhile now. I have heard many good things about it.

I also got Overlord for 6.99!

Amazing. So I suppose it pays to look for older games on the shelves at Gamestop.

How to choose a gaming platform.

Click to view.

Stuff on the web: List of Internet Skit Comedy People.

http://www.cracked.com/blog/the-8-best-internet-sketch-troupes-whose-initials-arent-tam/

Really nice list there.

These guys all show that making skit comedy isn't hard when you have decent talent and don't try to revolve a show around a single talent. (Which is a mistake EVERYONE who produces Skit Comedy has been making for the past 10 years.)

Scott Gairdner is someone who needs more credit for his work.

Make sure to check out Waverly Films stuff on Atom.

Food Review: Chobani Non-Fat Greek Yogurt

Amazing good.

Amazing expensive.

The fact that this yogurt is completely fat free and all natural makes the different though. I had never even heard of "greek style" yogurt before. This stuff is really good.

This is a definite buy if you have a coupon (one is available through the website but they make you install third party software to get it) or if it is on sale.

It is far thicker and creamier than normal full fat yogurt. It even has less sodium than most non-fat brands.

The only unhealthy thing is the sugar content which is high. 19 grams!

At 140 calories this isn't exactly health food but I have been working out a lot recently so I do need Protein from a low fat source. And this has 28% of your daily protein in one tub. 28%! That is more than the average protein bar with NO FAT and less calories than the average protein bar.

So yeah you can't really eat two of these every day but this is a really nice somewhat healthy treat that can be had on a regular basis by someone who is working out a bit. You just have to remember that you can't get sugary stuff like this all the time and expect to loose weight just because it's low fat.

I only tried the fruit varieties but I assume they are all pretty good. I assume the plain version has less sugar in it and is better for you.

An easy "A" for this food item.

A definite buy on sale or with coupon.

Stuff on the web: Doomsday Arcade.

Have you seen this yet?

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/doomsday-arcade

A bit of a slow start but it gets better as more episodes are added.

It's produced by a few guys in Australia. The visual effects and inside gamer jokes are REALLY good.

It's amazing what people can do with HD digital cameras and such.

Webcomic: Daisy Owl.

A nice relaxing comic. Something to enjoy on a hot summers days drinking a cool drink waiting to get the hell of work so you can go home and relax in the shade and hopefully forget you have a desk job.

BEES WILL STING THE CRAP OUT OF YOU!

BEES FRIGGEN' ROCK!

http://www.daisyowl.com/comic/2009-04-21

The first webcomic I have read that had a Nutella joke in it.

http://www.daisyowl.com/comic/2009-05-13

Webcomic: Pictures for Sad Children

http://picturesforsadchildren.com/index.php?comicID=156

This is also a nice little webcomic. There are some real gems in the archives.

Idiocracy.

I just rented and watched Idiocracy.

Such a good movie.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idiocracy

20th Century Fox tried to kill this movie because of it's anti-corporate message. I can't believe this movie was killed off like this. Amazing really.

The opening really hit home since my parents worked in an emergency room fixing up morons who managed to hurt themselves doing stupid stuff. Has modern medicine really done anything other than promote the well being of people who don't know how to take care of themselves?

We REALLY need to encourage intelligent people to have kids. LOTS of kids.

The problem with abstention education and family planning is that it appeals to people's logic. Thus many smart capable people are persuaded by the arguments while the trash keep on producing kids that are taken care of by welfare.

It's all so stupid.

Flash Game: "Today I Die"

http://ludomancy.com/games/today.html

Amazing game.

Really worth a quick play through.

Questionable Content. Excellent webcomic.

This is such a great slice of life in a slightly wacky world webcomic.

Hanners is such a great character.

If you ever need to waste a couple of days:

http://www.questionablecontent.net/

Stuff on the web

Movie posters mashed up with video games.

http://www.empireonline.com/forum/tm.asp?m=2325439

Awesome.

Food Review: Tai Pei brand Chicken

I bough Tai Pei's General Tso's Chicken on sale for $2.50.

The nutrition information looked good.

140 calories for the whole big tub.

3 grams of fat for the whole tub.

No Saturated Fat. No Trans Fat. Very low Cholesterol.

Somewhat low in protein for something claiming to be a chicken dish. Only 6 grams or about 11% DR. More on that later...

With no rice this item is pretty low carb. Only 10 Grams about 3% of your DR.

Only the sodium was high around 580 grams about 24% of your daily recommended intake.

Has corn syrup in it but NOT HFCS. Uses Sucralose sweetener instead.

Note that this ACTUALLY had vitamins in it. 180% of Vitamin A, 90% vitamin C 8% calcium and 8% iron. (It's pretty much all vegetables.)

When I opened the container after microwaving it I was disappointed that it wasn't even half full of stuff. When frozen this item seems to be a solid quart of food. It is NOT.

There is a laughably small amount of chicken in there. Literally a few shreds. The very low fat content on the label should have clued me in.

The vegetables were very nice (this is made in California and you can tell from the good quality of the snap peas) and the sauce was good and spicy.

The sauce is nice and I suppose you could just add your own chicken to it for a quick meal. I was left with a half inch of sauce on the bottom of the box. Adding extra chicken so the box is actually more than a quarter full might be a great idea.

I suppose you could justify this purchase for a convience meal. It is quality stuff.

I however, cannot justify the price point for this item. Unless it's on sale or you get a really good coupon you would be better off buying your own vegetables and chicken cooking them into something.

A- (Great quality of vegetables and sauce do not quite make up for lack of chicken and high price)

Gamestop SUCKS.

Most if not ALL OTHER corporations who make as much money as Gamestop give a tiny bit of money away to help the community.

As bad as Walmart and Sam's Club is they will both donate stuff to the library if I ask.

Best Buy does as well.

Gamestop DOES NOT.

They justify this by saying that they help out the Make a Wish foundation...I would really like to know just how much corporate giving actually goes on there...

As a glorified PAWN SHOP whose business practices promote crime and screw over the consumer I would think they would want to give SOMETHING back to the community.

But NO. They REFUSE to support in any way beside giving to Make a Wish.

That is total BS.

People making 400 K a year are complaining...

Wow.

http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Investing/StockInvestingTrading/getting-by-on-400,000-MSNMoney.aspx

$400,000 and they OWN their own home...

I am paraphrasing Terry Pratchett here...

A rich man buys a nice pair of boots that will last him 5 years. They are expensive but they last.

A poor man buys a crappy pair of boots that will last him 1 year. They are cheap but because of the hard work and long hours they wear out quickly.

The poor man ends up paying MORE money on boots during that 5 years than the rich man.

The kicker is that the poor man will still be wearing shitty boots that leak during all that time.

And the rich bastard spends that time complaining ab0ut how much his nice comfortable boots cost.

...

Someone who makes $400,000 a year has NOTHING to complain about.

It makes me SICK that we are so f'ed up as a society that we allow these people to bitch and moan.

Original Fallout trilogy released.

I somehow missed the news on this.

The original Fallout 1, 2 and Tactics has been released.

It's going for $19.99 in most major retail stores.

Just a note for people like me who totally missed hearing about this until now.

Wow. Ustream actually works.

I am currently watching the artist from Penny Arcade draw stuff live.

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/penny-arcade-tv

It's actually pretty cool. I was under the impression that most artists as famous as that just bang out stuff quickly. He is actually quite methodical about it and takes time to draw and re-draw bits that must have not seemed right to him.

I used twitter to find out about this.

http://twitter.com/cwgabriel

Maybe technology isn't all bad.

What?

...

...do naturalists in other countries do stupid shit like this? Or is it just Americans?

It's a friggen' BEAR! Don't hand raise it and invite it to the dinner table...

...this cannot end well.

How does anyone draw in MS paint???

Lately I have been looking at art that people have made in MS paint. As a great fan of minimalist art creators I tried to do the same thing.

I managed to bang this out in about 45 seconds.
It's got the same "everyone looks like a mannequin" feel as my normal pencil doodlings but there is much less control involved. You can whip up stuff quickly though.

However after that I didn't see the damn point of working on it anymore. I mean with a pencil or in photoshop it's just so damn easy to blend and erase stuff.

Paint is a nice program but I can't see trying to use it for drawing. Unless you are trying to impress someone or something.

VGcats takes on "gamers"

http://www.vgcats.com/comics/

Nice.

I saw a very few minutes from that SciFi show and I was bitterly disappointed. It really did look like they found the most most annoying casual gamer stereotypes that exist and taped them.

Scott R. is also correct in noting that the popularization of video games means that there is a dip in quality games. Many of the really good games that come out are not getting the positive attention they should enjoy because they are "too hard" or people "don't get them". (For example please consider the following review of God Hand: "Oh this game is too hard *Whine Whine* it must be a bad game because I suck at playing it and I know nothing about the genre of game that inspired it *Whine Whine* [that statement was taken verbatim from the review])

I think we actually have not gotten to the worst of this situation yet. But hopefully there will be good games released in the future and everyone who enjoys a real gaming experience will be able to get a copy.

Zombie on the lawn

Here's a random video of wolves eating berries.

I knew that foxes and coyotes eat berries (mostly because the coyote crap I always encountered outside my house always had berries in it). I never knew that wolves liked to eat them.

Subnormality does a video game webcomic

Winston Rowntree's interpretation of Laura Croft and Samus Aran meeting.

It's not what you would expect (however, if you have read any of his other stuff you would expect this)

http://www.viruscomix.com/subnormality.html

http://abcnews.go.com/Business/Economy/story?id=7364921&page=1

I was fired after having my appendix taken out. The doctor told me that I couldn't drive a car for a week and my "boss" who I actually hired (he was immediately promoted by a corporate manager trying to take over the marketing section in the area) demanded that I meet with him. When I told him I couldn't because I had just got surgery and couldn't drive he fired me.

Oh and he gave a bad reference for a job. Even the asshat corporate manager was pissed off at him because of that and apologized to me.

WTF.

New TV's make old games look bad?

http://nfgworld.com/mb/thread/660

Very interesting...

So I had better keep that old TV then.

I knew it. Lobster isn't that great.

http://www.cracked.com/article_17246_when-lobster-was-spam-5-gourmet-foods-that-used-be.html

I knew it. Prisoners revolted against eating lobster because it was like being fed rats!

I never understood why some foods are considered fancy and "good" by most people.

Now I understand. People are just dumb.

We will praise the consumption of a water spider that just a short while back was refused by war prisoners.

It's all perspective.

It all comes down to people's skewed perspective.

At times like this I am glad that I have my own perspective on life.

Why can't we make movies like this in Hollywood?

Hell I would settle for making movie posters like this.

Damn.

http://www.manolith.com/2009/04/16/18-vintage-sci-fi-posters-robots-aliens-monsters

Star Craft 2. Can't wait.

Nice.

That Terran homing missile thing looks way overpowered compared to the exploding zerglings.

It's interesting to note that there was a fan-made mod that created units called "roaches" and now there are official Star Craft 2 units that are named roaches.

...I wonder if that person works for Blizzard now or if they just ripped off the name?

What happened this year according to videogames.

http://kotaku.com/5208979/virtual-reality-the-year-twenty+o+nine-in-video-game-history

One of the better Kotaku articles I have read.

Minerva: Metastasis

Minerva: Metastasis.

If you have Half Life 2...

GET IT!

It is GREAT!

Even though I do not have Internet access at home I was still able to play it in Steam in Offline mode! (I downloaded it from work and carried it in a flash drive home.)

It really reminds me how people made some awesome mods for the original Half Life. (They Hunger, Heart of Evil...ect)

It takes all the traditional elements from Half Life 2 and mixes them up with some very well developed environments.

Plus there is a plot!

Do yourself a favor. Play it.

I know I was still hungry for some Half Life action after beating all the single player stuff in the Orange Box.

I played a huge chunk of it last night and I am not even a quarter of the way through!!!!

And the series is not even done yet!

Did I happen to mention that only ONE PERSON created this fun game?

Amazing.

This is so true.

When girls play video games.

http://www.ellerbisms.com/?p=47

I am playing...

Command and Conquer 3.

VERY action packed. I had no idea how much the gameplay differed from other RTS games.

I really like how you can fly in crack teams of soldiers behind enemy lines. It really changes up the game play.

All in all it's a very fun game so far and very well balanced.


One a side note:

I understand now how Sega tried to blend all that was good in Starcraft and Command and Conquer into one game with Universe at War.

Of course it turned into one bug infested mess.

I really tried to play that game Sega. I downloaded all the patches and EVERYTHING. Nowhere near as good as Command and Conquer 3 though.

Hardest Games???

Oh Game Daily...

http://www.gamedaily.com/articles/galleries/top-25-hardest-games-of-all-time/?page=1

I agreed with some of your choices like MDK2.

But I disagree with other choices like Doom. I remember Nightmare difficulty being fun and not one of the "hardest games of all time".

I was also able to beat Portal quite quickly. I think I only died a few times at the end.

Props for including the Metal Slug series in there.

Cadbury Eggs and stuff.

I found out today that the UK's Cadbury Eggs have actual creme in them. All we Americans get is powdered milk. Plus they have better quality chocolate...

They have been making them smaller over the years. Skip to the end of this clip.



I only ate two last year.

It kinda sucks that most of the food produced in America is really lower quality and processed more than in other parts of the world.

Even the seasonal candy!!!

If it wasn't for local growers of produce and meat we wouldn't have anything decent to eat in this country. Cook your own damn food. It's better in every way!

In any case everyone have a Good Friday!

(get it?)

I never understood how the heck it became "good" friday what with all those bible passages where Jesus was screaming "why have you forsaken me" and getting stabbed by spears and stuff (In other versions he seemed much calmer but I attribute this to PR. Personally, if I was being crucified I would vocalize questions about God forsaking me). Yes it's nice that he died for our sins and managed to get out of that cave eventually but calling the day "good" seems sort of callous to the personal agony the guy went through.

But of course we can't call the holiday "The day that we betrayed, ridiculed, tortured and eventually killed Jesus". That would look horrible on a Calendar.

Perhaps it could be "Don't worry he came back on Sunday" Day.

In any case there should be a ruling against the whole "Easter Bunny" thing.

The quaint Germanic pagan theme (which face it originally probably had something to do with how lovely dead sacrificed rabbits taste with herb broth) has really been warped by my fellow Americans into something horrible and gaudy. We just don't need it.

We already have the deal where a guy comes back to life! How much more do you want!!?!??!?!?

We don't need ANOTHER mythological figure giving treats to all the good boys and girls. We have had too many treats in this country as is.

...

Speaking of that I am going to track down a Cadbury Egg.

You know.

Just to test the quality.

Wow. Look at that thing go!

I apologize for that last post. I tend to ramble and forget this is supposed to be a blog on gaming and media stuff.

Check this thing out!



Thatlooks like it could be fun.

Loss of Customer Service.

http://www.walletpop.com/blog/2009/04/09/25-things-vanishing-in-america-part-2-customer-service/

Of course you can use the whole "stop being a whiner, that's the way things are" defense of the status quo but I think most people are starting to see how bad things are getting.

One sociology professor at my college once explained it to us this way.

We are being trained to work for the corporations.

In the past we used to have shit done for us by other people.

For example: we are tellers working for our bank dealing with automated machines. We have to do the work. They used to pay people to deposit money and take out money for us. Now we have to do all that work AND they tell us it's more convenient!

First I thought this was BS. After all going through the ATM was easier than going into the bank and waiting for a teller to help me...

...but wait. I remember when I first started depositing money as a high school student at my rural hometown's bank there was no ATM. And I NEVER had to wait because there was always at least 3 tellers working in the bank.

Nowadays I think you would be pretty lucky to see 2 tellers working in a rural branch of a bank.

That's because the banks hired themselves a new employee to do all your banking. YOU. And YOU PAY THEM FOR IT.

...

Recently I went into a Walmart late at night to get a new shower head and a bunch of other stuff. I got my own purchase and walked back to pay. There was NO CASHIER. I had to ring myself out at the self checkout line.

This doesn't seem like a big deal of course.

But just consider it.

I just worked for Walmart as a Cashier and a Bagger.

For free.

A mere ten years ago I could have gotten someone to ring me up and ANOTHER person to bag my purchases.

But the norm has become you working all these little extra jobs for free and not getting any of the benefit.

And if you complain? Well then you are a "whiner" and a "wuss" for not wanting to bag your own purchases and be your own bank teller. People are so influenced by "the way things are" they see NO PROBLEM with the status quo.

This is NOT "the way things are" this is how some asshole trying to generate a little bit more profit for his company decided how things should be...and we all just went along with it.

...

Of course I can come up with a hundred other ways customer service sucks in this country.

And it isn't all big corporations either. The small businesses in this area are mostly being run by some pretty stupid people as well.

All in all I think this country really needs to revamp some shit and generate some more intelligent middle class people. This generation of stupid consumers who go along with everything that is forced upon them and possess such ignorant arrogance is not doing anyone any good. Stop all this oppression of our intellectuals and force the bulk of our population to own up to their shortcomings.

...

I suppose the best you can do is find stores that you like run by people with a half a brain and support them.

Hopefully, with this depression going on stores will be willing to help out people.

Hopefully, with this depression some of the losers will be put in their place and we will emerge stronger and better.

4 gregs

http://www.homestarrunner.com/4gregs.html

God I love this limited animation stuff.

Dear Valve....Sorry

I bitched and complained for years about the internet requirements of Half Life 2.

However, I did not know about a little option on Steam called "Offline Mode".

After you install the game and update it you can fiddle around with some of the settings in Steam to allow you to play all single player games WITHOUT connecting to the internet.

So I was FINALLY able to take my computer into work one day and install the orange box and update all the games.

And now at home I can play Half Life 2, Episode 1, Episode 2 and Portal!!!!! Without ever connecting to the internet again!

It was well worth the wait. I just wish I had tried this earlier...

...I also updated Neverwinter Nights 2 while I was at it because it was a pain in the ass to do it the other way.