So I loaded up MP2 tonight (at last) and I've just now stopped playing, some two-and-a-half hours after starting. I finished Act I and I'm on the beginning stages of Act II.

Go play this game. In fact, buy it because even Rockstar deserves mucho dinero for this one, since it was with their encouragement and emphasis on production value that Remedy made this game one to remember. This game's going to get a full review once I finish it (which I anticipate will be sooner than later; reportedly this game's insanely short), but here are some first impressions:

-Visuals: awesome. The MaxFX engine is very framerate-friendly, so my relatively dated Ti4200 can run this game flawlessly with next-generation visuals. I'm amazed at the texture resolution (they've done it again!) and the character modeling and animation are second only to the most recent Tom Clancy games.
-Production value: holy. fucking. shit. Rockstar's done it again. This is the first game I've actually played that actually drops the F-bomb (Kingpin did it first in 1999). The attention to detail in this game is second to none. Remedy thought of absolutely everything in this game.
-Humor: The original Max Payne had a few moments of sheer hilarity (the V-trip scene, for example - "Max, you're in a computer game!"). MP2 cuts out all the cheese (including the scriptwriting) and the game makes fun of itself (particularly its predecessor) in nearly every level. And yes, Lords and Ladies makes its triumphant return.

Is this not enough? My expectations are high for the rest of the game - Act I alone qualifies as Game of the Year. Expect a full review in a few days.

1. Fire (the Snapple drink) is quite a wonderful thing. Tasty AND keeps you awake. Oh man. It's how I'll be surviving Biology today.
2. I have discovered a recipe for ersatz Bawls. It's got none of the guarana or caffeine, but all the tasty flavor. Here's how it works:

1 part Red Flash (or Big Red might work, but Red Flash is the stuff we have here)
2 parts Sprite

And don't forget to serve it on the rocks.

Try it. I've found it's good for when I need a break from the ordinary.

Oh, and the season premiere of JBPH is tonight. If you know not what that is, then you are worthless (watch fox at 8 tonight)

Dear Blake Ellison,

I am delighted to inform you that you are the winner of the only
second prize we are giving this year. Both judges gave your paper
very high marks. To claim the $500 prize, please send Jennifer
Scalora your paper as an attachment, so that she can post it on the
web.

Congratulations!

--
Paul Woodruff
Director, Plan II Honors Program

So this time change came out of friggin' nowhere. And it was suddenly 55 degrees outside instead of 85. It became winter here overnight. It's really a pretty welcome change, though I can totally imagine I'll get sick of it pretty fast. But hey, I feel like 10 times more comfy here now that I'm wearing sweaters and moccasins everywhere I go.

Oh, and you'll notice that Chinese food has been taken off the dislike list. Gotta love having like 20 Chinese places nearby. And we get good fortunes in the fortune cookies here, too.

So over on the Friends bar, Andie has appeared.

We actually met from FaceTheJury, because I'm a shallow bastard who thought she was hot. So we got to talking, and she was hot and awesome. So then she actually had the nerve to agree to my silly request to meet up in person. And she was still hot and awesome and her improv comedy troupe was a riot. We've managed to keep in touch online for a long time, and she's definitely one of the most complex people (that's a good thing, ladies!) I've ever met. So go read her stuff - you might learn something cool.

snagger64: lol drew's new site is money
AznRogueyBSB: Hahahah yeah
AznRogueyBSB: Couldja link me?
snagger64: http://xteamwritersinc.blogdrive.com/

Yeah, there's some pretty hilarious shit on there. Massive props to Drew and the new writers on his site. Update your links, kids.

Scotty Crowe is the guy who gets paid to follow John Mayer around and write up his Road Journal on www.johnmayer.com. Here was the most recent entry, written from Canada:

Bigger Than My Body was a give-him-the-stick-don't-give-him-the-stick-esque way to open the show. �John sang quite a bit of Last Night during the break in My Stupid Mouth. �Come Back To Bed was killer. �Finally, the Tracing segue into Daughters was a nice catch, blanco nino...but too bad your ass got saaaaaaaaaaacked. �Tracing graces another continent but remains yet to appear in any nation-state hosting a Shea's Rebellion. �It's really cool to do club shows here and there - it's just a great atmosphere with everyone standing with everyone and the walls of a little room shaking from all the noise. �

Canada - you were great, we'll see you in a few weeks. �Now to New York, Radiohead, Kill Bill, and any other bits of US culture we've missed out over the past 3 days. �

Don't look at me when I'm talking to you.

Here's the list of stuff I have piled up and haven't done due to class:

Games:
Halo (singleplayer, I just rescued Keyes)
Max Payne 1 (replay, just started Act II)
Max Payne 2 (haven't even burned it)
Call of Duty (downloading)
Condition Zero (downloading)

Reading:
New PC gamer
2600 (Summer 2003)
Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them (Al Franken)

Music to listen to:
Orbital's new album, Octane
Jack Johnson, On and On
Howie Day, Australia
David Gray, A New Day at Midnight
DJ Shadow, Funk Spectrum
Benny Benassi, Hypnotica

This one goes out to the whiny people in the last thread who needed something new to yak about, because apparently sex and rock'n'roll weren't enough:

I'm headed back to Dallas this weekend once more. I'll be arriving late Saturday afternoon, performing in the Bass Hall Sunday night with the Oakridge choir, and coming back to Austin on Monday morning. Drop me a line if something cool happens.

In other news, Max Payne 2 has come out, and even though I'm massively excited to play it I'll be waiting a while to do so. Why, you ask? I'm replaying the original so the story is completely fresh in my mind. In addition, the Kung Fu mod completely kicks ass. In fact, Kung Fu Max Payne is highly recommended for anyone who was disappointed by Enter the Matrix: this game delivers. Really.

I really wish I could write something big and complex and happy and stylistic. I'm feeling a lacking of real dedication to writing lately and it's annoying me. But then the same holds true for music and gaming and school and sleep and my social life.

College, friends, is a crack addiction. It's impossible to get enough of anything.

And I keep getting paranoid about my future. I want to study in Japan and Spain and London, but I don't have time to leave school to study in all of those places. And I want to work on my musical 'career' at the same time. And see more interesting movies. For those of you saying "Blake, STFU and relax:" I am relaxed. Ask anyone who sees me on a daily basis. It's not like I'm walking around going all Tweek on everyone.

BTW, Lost in Translation = great movie. Highly recommended. Very thoughtful, slyly humorous and bittersweet and optimistic like a good John Mayer song.

I experienced something beautiful tonight: my dear friend and Adventure Buddy extraordinaire Michelle sang to me. A Michelle Branch song, even. It was like she leaned over to whisper something into my ear and instead I heard a whisper-soft, beautiful, lovely voice sing a whole song, perfectly, right into my ear. That had always been a small daydream of mine: to have a girl sing a real throughtful girl song to me.

So that's out of the way - and the second time in a couple short months I've decided that music truly is better than sex. Not 100% of the time - but when music is heartfelt and emotional and takes you away from the place where you are - that transcends anything you can possibly feel. Kind of makes that paranoia go away.

Sunday, 8:30 Central. Steam, 1.6. Leave a comment to sign up, or else I'll cancel from low turnout.

Update: Sorry! I've got to cancel since I maxed out my bandwidth and thus I have a veeeery slow connection to the outside Internet. My sincerest apologies, and I'll save some bandwidth for a game this week.

The final trailer is out. Go watch. Now.

Yes, Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhnold is your new governor. Good luck, California.

CS Night hasn't gotten an overwhelming response for tonight, so I'm pushing it to Sunday night. Time TBD.

Ahhhhhhnold will become governor. Any takers?

Thursday, 8:30 Central (pushed up an hour as requested), Steam and CS 1.6. Make sure you log on Thursday before the game and update your stuff.

The trip home was successful. Celebrating the Mexican's birthday was successful, seeing my amigos went well, and meeting the ever-rumored David was pretty damn Swank�. It was good to see mommy and my oh-so-psychotic dog - it was a feeling of real happiness to drive through Arlington on the way home and see all the familiar sights. Yes, even Eric - running into him at North East Mall was the king of all coincidences.

Also of interest was my three-hour outing in the BMW alongside Mexican, Wodarski, and David. Much goodness. Thank you, gentlemen, for a bad ass cruise all over the town.

Here's what I've returned to Austin with:
-A new pair of shoes
-Facial soap (so I don't get all pizza-face n shit)
-The new 2600 (Nokia 3360 hacking and the obligatory wi-fi hack, yay)
-Birthday present for Kris
-New burner (at last! The old one was getting on 3.5 years old)
-A bag of Baby Goldfish

And when I returned, the following was given to me as presents:
-Elle magazine with my sweet dear Michelle Branch on the cover (Syed's presents own)
-A ton of Reverse Oreos from Soph.

Let me end my post on Reverse Oreos. These, quite simply, are incredible cookies. Please go out and buy a bag so they'll become a commercial mainstay, because I'm not entirely sure I'll survive without them.

But it's good to be back here. Many thanks to Soph, Alejajajajajajajajajajandro, Emma, David, Wodarski, Frank, Pablo, Alison, the entire Hamster-Ball crew, and the only hot girl who's taller than me, Sarah, for making it a great weekend. I'll be back in two more.

Thank you, sir. God bless anyone endowed with the gift of rant. I love you. This explains every single solitary A&M crack or opinion I've ever expressed. I say this not as a UT student but as a Texan who is embarrassed that this school is even in the same state as me.

Sorry Drew! Yeah, I jacked this link from him and didn't give due credit. So kick me out of blog school for plagiarism or something.

warning: politics


Please.. this state is obviously retarded and desperately needs help. Click it.