Filler material

Those of you that follow TV shows know all about filler episodes. They serve no reason than to fill a need, something random in the middle of a big storyline. Some are good, some others are mediocre, others yet are terribad. This post falls under the latter category. Its only purpose is to make sure that I hit 15 posts this month

To sweeten the pot somewhat, here's a great move by Tony Parker in a recent Spurs game:

A Song of Ice and Fire

Haven't really been inspired when it came to writing these past few days, rather I've been enjoying my job-less life again. I've also almost reached my goal of 15 blog posts for this month, so no need to rush either.

However, it's kinda frustrating that I've never really posted about my favorite fantasy literature series yet, A Song of Ice and Fire. What's so great about this series? I usually like to say how brutally realistic it is, if not for the (limited) fantasy elements, it could have been considered historical literature instead. Its scope is also something awe-inspiring, and it features some of the best characters I've ever come across.

Yet, unsurprisingly, the author of the series George R. R. Martin sums it up much better than me:

It's really irritating when you open a book, and 10 pages into it you know that the hero you met on page one or two is gonna come through unscathed, because he's the hero. This is completely unreal, and I don't like it. If I was a soldier going to war, I'd be pretty scared the night before a battle. It's a scary thing. And I want my readers to feel that fear as they turn the page. I want them to feel that no one is safe — that if my character is surrounded by three people with swords, he's in serious trouble, because he's only one guy against three.

It's so refreshing to read a story like this. How many times have you cringed when an important character survives an impossible situation just because he or she "has to"? No such thing in ASoIaF. It's what keeps you on your toes at all time while reading, it really is a scary thing. And most, if not all, characters are so wonderfully "gray", and the different perspectives you get on each one are really unique.

Speaking of perspectives, each chapter is narrated from one of the main characters, who gives a different view of things every time. A character that at first seemed a complete S.O.B. when seen through the eyes of one person may become a noble hero through the eyes of another. In other words, be prepared to be surprised by certain characters, and don't be too quick to judge them.

Entertainment Weekly recently had a Q&A session with George R. R. Martin, it's where that previous quote is from, and it's really interesting for fans of the series. No, there's no release date for the next chapter, A Dance with Dragons yet. Be patient.

A series of minatures based on characters from the series has also been released lately, if that's your thing. I really like the Jamie Lannister one, I think it captures the essence of his character nicely.

"How long have you known me?" - Still the best damn show on TV right now.

May I take a message?

I just caught a Tom Waits song on the radio, and I just realized that if you're caught off-guard by one of his songs, listening to it is an almost orgasmic experience. No joke.

The weirdest idea also crossed my atheist mind: "Tom Waits is proof that God exists, only he's nothing like we ever imagined him to be."

Not quite sure where that came from, I'm also still an atheist for that matter, I just felt like sharing it.

Intermission: so far Pavlos has maintained a solid 4.0 in his M.A. courses. What do you think his final GPA will be? Taking your bets now!

End of Intermission.

Anyway, here's a video of a Tom Waits song which I find is kind of fitting for this post, and is also what the title is referring to, God's Away On Business.

So what's the big deal about...

...Facebook? Really. Seems like everyone has an account there these days, it's an even bigger phenomenon than MySpace, which I hate by the way. Even Greek PC-gaming mags are having special articles covering Facebook, when it doesn't really have anything to do with gaming.

Not to mention that according to an "insider" (called Pavlos, who has nothing to do with Facebook or anything at all, really), the C.I.A has partial ownership of the site or something. Edit: Source can be found here.

Mildly amusing, at the very least. Furthermore, the Facebook people are free to use your picture without your consent. Some scary shit there.

I'm sure there's a deep sociological observation to be made here, but I'm not really sure I can be bothered. I'll wait until someone else does it and then quote it here, signing with an /agree.

As with most successful things, there's bound to be a sort of copycat-I-hate-this-idea-but-I'm-doing-something-similar thing. In this case, it's called Hatebook. It's supposed to be a place where you can vent out your irrational hatreds, but it reeks of so much generic anger. I think I'll contain my 100% irrational, unjustifiable hate in this blog for now.

If you're wondering, yes I also have an account of Facebook. However, I've forgotten my password, which in retrospect may have been a subconscious choice.

Last thing for this post, in case you missed it, a pretty sad and weird tale about Animal Crossing.

My bad

In a previous post, I mentioned that I'll be rooting for two teams in the NBA this year, the Washington Wizards, and the Chicago Bulls. I also said that one of my favorite players in the championship at the moment is Gilbert Arenas.

Less than a month later, what do the standings tell us? The Bulls are at a 2-8 record, probably affected by all this talk about acquiring Kobe Bryant during the off-season, which at the end never happened. For some reason, most teams don't recover all that well from such a change. Or lack of a change. Or something along those lines, anyway.

The Wizards are at a 6-5, which is pretty decent, considering they started with a 0-5 (or was it 0-4?)

The thing is, Arenas was recently injured and will be out for two to three months. How will the Wizards fare without their superstar, especially now that another key player, Power Forward Antawn Jamison has been under-performing lately?

Man, talk about jinxing it, I feel kinda responsible. My apologies, kind gents.

That'll be all for today. Still too tired for a huge post.

It was Lupus!

Heroes, you're on notice.

I could go on ranting for a while on why I found the latest episode of Heroes to be such a disappointment, even though apparently most people loved it. Instead, I'll just say that the show is now officially On Notice.

Remember, that's one step away from being Dead To Me. Careful where you tread now, Heroes.

Zzz...

I hate waking up early. It should be made illegal.

I may be spoiled, yes. It should still be made illegal.

To end this immensely constructive post today, here's a fucked up story concerning a MySpace hoax and a young girl committing suicide as a result of said hoax. Sickening is all I have to say.

The Last Alterac Valley

"What's this, George? Are there no movies left on the internets besides WoW-related ones?"

There are, but this one is different. This one is from the server I'm playing, and you can even see my character in it. For a second or so. But that's besides the point.

Last Wednesday, a new patch introduced several changes to the World of Warcraft, including massive changes to the battleground everyone loves to hate, Alterac Valley.

For the uninitiated, Alterac Valley (AV for short) was designed as the most "epic" of all WoW battlegrounds, with 40 players on each side fighting over a large map, with several NPC's (non-playable characters) to fight along the way. It didn't always work, as it has been changed half a million times already, and it's always a pain to fight when you don't know anyone in your group. Even more so when everyone else is speaking Italian.

But it was a great place to fight when you had a lot of friends on your side, and especially when there was a leader than could organize attacks. Stealth teams, gathering reinforcements for the Wolf Riders (think cavalry) or the War Riders (think bombing runs), and let's not forget the huge boss that you could summon after significant effort, which got stronger with each player it killed.

Yes, AV was fun. After the last batch of changes was announced however, some of us were disheartened to hear that most of these NPC's would be removed. For that reason, we decided to have one last fight in the "old" AV, one in which we planned to completely dominate.

More than 30 of us joined, the fight lasted a little over two hours (it might sound like a lot, but the old old AV fights sometimes lasted more than twenty) and it was an almost flaweless victory, though we did lose one Lieutenant near the end. He was properly mourned.

All in all, it was tremendous fun, the kind of conflict I had in mind when I first heard about PvP battles in WoW, and not the low-impact skirmishes we get nowadays, but eh, what can you do? I'm just happy I took part in this one.

The forum thread (including some screenshots) dealing with this can be found here, and the movie page here. You can see my character a couple of times in the movie (look ma'!) though it's always at the graveyard, after I had died yet another time :P. My character is Gilraukoris, a Blood Elfette, in case you're curious.

Just Because

Heard the song on the radio a few moments ago, thought I'd post the video here.



Remember to smile, you bastards.

Ever had...

...one of those days when you just can't write anything at all, no matter how hard you try? That's how my week has been, I couldn't write to save my life.

I still can't, for that matter. So here's a few tidbits from around the 'Net (O.o) to tide you over until I manage to write an actual update. Which will happen eventually, don't forget that everything in this country has changed since George Papandreou won the PASOK elections. Seriously, who saw that coming?

*groans*

Anyway, here we go:

A surfer dude apparently came up with the Grand Unified Theory(reference). I'm not sure what's going on here, or how this is possible, but it's random enough to be true. It'd definitely be hilarious.

I've never read the His Dark Materials books, but from what I've been told it's pretty much Narnia for atheists. Which is fine by me, naturally. Kinda wish I could have read those books when I was younger, in fact. A movie based on the first book, The Golden Compass, is coming out on December 7, and although it's supposed to be a lot more tame than the book, the trailer is really impressive, I find. Watch it here.

Lastly, details regarding a movie based on the popular fighting game Tekken have surfaced, and pretty much every sane human being left on this planet (alongside several not-so-sane ones) wished they hadn't. Just for shits and giggles, here's the description of Jin Kazama, probably the most famous Tekken character, and one of the central protagonists of its story:

JIN – Hero supreme with a serious drug problem, he’s hooked on ZEN and does what he can to get his next fix.

What does that even mean? I've played all Tekken games and I don't know what the Hell this "ZEN" thing is, and I seriously doubt they're referring to Buddhism. A Buddhism-addict would be pretty interesting though, now that I think of it.

I really don't understand why the people adapting all these gaming franchises for the big screen decide to radically alter them. It's the perfect way to alienate your fans, which makes no sense as those are the ones interested in watching the movie in the first place, casual viewers are easy to dismiss movies based on videogames due to their bad rep. Which they deserve, of course. Talk about a vicious cycle.

Oh well, looks like another movie to catch on a DVD with a few friends and some beers on some idle Tuesday. Which isn't that bad, of course.

In other news, House M.D. has been abso-fucking-lutely brilliant so far this season, definitely my favorite show on TV at the moment. It even keeps getting better with each episode, when you think they could never top last week's episode. Amazing.

On an unrelated note, I'll be working for Greenpeace, starting Monday.

And now for something completely original

To make up for the lack of a post on Saturday (argh!) here's yet another movie based on World of Warcraft. Hey, it's hilarious so shush!

Warrior V. Paladin, the musical!

I said what what?

My back is getting better, though sitting in front of the PC to write long articles is still not something I can do without some pain, so no big post for today either. Instead, here's a collection of strange/obscure/retarded happenings from around the world:

Firstly, you know how sometimes parents forbid their kids from playing videogames and/or watching TV when their grades go down the shitter? In most occasions, this isn't a solution to the actual problem, but it's a quick and easy solution. Kids usually complain or hold their breath in anger, but 16 year old Cory Ryder decided to be original and hired a hitman. As you can read in the article, he even stole money from his sister's piggy bank too, in order to pay the guy. I'm not sure if I should laugh or cry. Thankfully, the kid was caught.

Secondly, if you're into media in the least, you've probably already heard about the Hollywood Writers' Strike. Cynics around the world proposed a collective "Hollywood has writers?!" but that's besides the point. The first big casualty of this strike is the action-drama show 24, which will not air at all this season. A major disappointment for fans of the show, but personally, I've stopped caring about it since last year's disastrous season. Alright, maybe I'm being too harsh, I would have liked to see how much of a revamp this season would be. But I'm still not hyped about it in the least.

Thirdly, a 13-year old girl in Mascoutah, Illinois got detention for... hugging two of her friends. Apparently, as the school student handbook suggests,

“Displays of affection should not occur on the school campus at any time. It is in poor taste, reflects poor judgment, and brings discredit to the school and to the persons involved.”

This is obviously open to interpetation, but I'm sure it was written with situations like kids making out and groping in public view, not hugging. Smiling is a public display of affection too, why hasn't anyone gotten detention for that? Not that I'm against kissing in public, mind you, but I could understand a rule against it in a school with specific "moral" (let's not start defining morality right now) rules. But come on. Detention for hugging someone? These people giving out such punishments need to get laid more often, quite frankly.

Lastly, and the most outrageous, downright frustrating news of the recent days is this: In the near future, all mages in World of Warcraft, regardless of specialization, will get Iceblock as a trainable spell!

What.

WHAT?

Revolting. Shocking. Scandalous, even! THANKS FOR LETTUCE GNOMES BLIZZ.



In all seriousness, it just shows that Blizzard cannot balance this game for both PvP (Player Versus Player) and PvE (Player Versus Environment), especially since the day they decided they want WoW to be an e-sport. And this talk suggesting that this change will happen with PvE in mind is just bull. People playing mages have complained about their survivability in PvP forever, and instead of coming up with something original (while also neglecting that mages have always been designed as glass cannons instead of survivability monsters like druids or paladins) they just decide to bite the bullet and give them complete invulnerability for a certain number of seconds every five minutes. Shut up about Cloak of Shadows already, it's fine.

*Phew* I really wanted to get that off my chest. Hey, if a man can't rant on his own blog, then what? Anyway, it's changes like this that make me think that at times not even the people at Blizzard are sure where they're going to with their game, or at least that at some point in the early/mid designing parts, they had no idea how it would evolve in the process. Which is kind of understandable, since MMORPG's are a very special kind of gaming genre, but still not the way to go if you're really trying to brand your game as an e-sport.

The PASOK presidential elections are on Sunday, in which even 16-year olds will be allowed to vote. Interesting, that. Still not quite sure what to make of it. I just hope they'd get over with it already, it's all a big publicity stunt, and we all know George Papandreou is going to win in the end.

Ow

I have a terrible, terrible headache today, and my back is killing me as well. Suffice to say, there's no real update. Which is a shame, as I want to write something about the new Thor comic book series that relaunched recently. Not to mention finishing that MMORPG article. Oh, well. I'll have at least one of them ready within the week.

In the meantime, here's yet another video to tide you over. It's from World of Warcaft, and it won't make much sense to those not playing the game (Hell, it makes little sense to me as I've never seen the dungeon it takes place in) but I like the old-school videogame references.

Watch Kitten Rescue:

Catching up

I'm back in Athens, after a relatively fun weekend (despite the fact that I hurt my back and it makes me feel like an old guy right now) which I spent playing... Halo 3.

I played through the whole thing in two days, on heroic difficulty in co-op mode. It was an amazing experience, the co-op helped of course, but the game felt so well-designed throughout, with definitely fewer low points than the previous two games of the series. The battle with the two Scarab tanks was epic.

There's a few valid criticisms about it, such as its length. Honestly, the game feels (and probably is) shorter than Halo 2, which was pretty short for an FPS as well. Still, I'd rather have a shorter game than one filled with filler missions such as Halo: Combat Evolved, its name was uh... something about a Library. My memory isn't what it used to be.

I really can't understand how people are criticizing the game's graphics. While it might not be significantly better than everything else in the market right now, or as (I guess) as good as its fans have hoped for... They are still really fracking good. Some of the textures are insane, and you can't argue with the draw distance of the game, as with all Halo games.

I haven't had the chance to play the multiplayer part of the game online, but even the offline mode is good fun, I can only assume it's even better online.

Lastly, I loved the amount of options you're given when fighting. Close-quarters combat with machine guns or melee weapons, sniping fools from afar, a combination of the two with the Carbine/Battle Rifle, it's there. Personally, I love sniping people and then finishing them off with the Elites' energy sword, I love this combination of both long-distance and close-up combat. It's actually kind of funny in a sad way that an FPS can offer you such level of customization, when RPG's force you to specialize in a specific way (hello, World of Warcraft.)

In other matters, the local media have finally caught up with Stephen Colbert and his presidential run, even if the Democrats have already declined him. The person writing the article in the local "Kyriakatiki Eleftherotypia" newspaper had his facts about Stephen a bit messed up as well, but I guess it's good enough that they actually had a report on this.

This is also the 100th post in this blog, didn't quite make it in time for October, but better late than never, no?

And I'm off

I'm still not sure what it was I wanted to write about two days ago. Probably something about Frank Sinatra and the 4-cd collection I picked up earlier this week. I guess that'll have to wait.

I finally managed to watch Stardust yesterday, I thought it was thoroughly entertaining, and not that different from the book, unlike what most people were suggesting. I'm aware of the fact that some Gaiman fanboys make the rest of us look bad. I wasn't too fond of a couple of changes (the unicorn not dying, at least it's not made clear it does, the "twist" and the overall fight at the end) but the rest all made sense from a cinematic point of view. Overall, it's exactly like the book, simple (not simplistic) but really charming.

Back in the real world, Stephen Colbert's presidential bid has been rejected by the Democrats, with a vote of 13 to 3. Boo, hiss! How could you do that to the man?

I'm leaving for my hometown in a couple of hours, so now I'll have an actual excuse for not updating for a few days. Le gasp! In the meantime, here's another video from my favorite World of Warcraft machinima series, "Snacky's Journal", Roberto's Halloween Special. It even has Sinatra!

So, uh...

I had initially planned to write three different posts today. I had figured I'd write two of them early in the day and then finish the third one in the night, after returning home.

However, a few beers later, and I have to shamelessly admit I have no idea anymore what it was I wanted to write about. No friggin' clue. It's kind of hilarious. I'm sober, in case you're wondering, it's just my memory that's not working.

So instead, I'll just say that today a new world record was made in volleyball as one set in the match of PAOK Thessaloniki V AEK Athens ended at 54-52. For reference, nine times out of ten, a set in volleyball ends when a team reaches 25 points. I'd really like to know how long that set lasted.

In closing, this is one Futurama video I've wanted to post for weeks now but never got the chance, now's a good a time as any, I'd say.


You know it's true.

[Greek] Imagine 89.7

(To my international readers [lol who?], this post is about shruberries. It's also official, I'm going straight to hell, I mispelled "shruberry" in my original post.)


Το σκεφτόμουνα από καιρό τώρα να κάνω ένα post καθαρά στα ελληνικά, αλλά γενικά προτιμώ την αγγλικήν ακόμα και όταν μιλάω για πράγματα που έχουν να κάνουν με την ελληνική πραγματικότητα. Ο λόγος; Εδώ στην Ελλάδα λίγο-πολύ ξέρουμε πως έχουν τα πράγματα (με την υγεία, την παιδεία, κ.λ.π.), νιώθω ότι θα έκανα αυτό που οι Αγγλοσάξονες λένε "preaching to the choir" -τελικά δεν τα αποφεύγω τα Αγγλικά όσο και να θέλω!

Από την άλλη, αν μέσω της αγγλικής γλώσσας κάποια από τα θέματα που ταλαιπωρούν την κακόμοιρη αυτή χώρα μας μαθευτούν και προς τα έξω, ίσως τελικά αναγκαστούμε να αφήσουμε την απάθεια που μας χαρακτηρίζει στην άκρη και κάνουμε κάτι, οτιδήποτε, τέλος πάντων. Φρούδες (φλούδες;!) ελπίδες θα μου πείτε, αλλά από το ολότελα...

Μετά από αυτή την υπέρ του δέοντος μεγάλη εισαγωγή, ας περάσουμε στο κύριο θέμα του post, το νέο ραδιοφωνικό σταθμό του Αντώνη Κανάκη και του Γιάννη Σερβετά, τον Imagine 89,7. Ο σταθμός ξεκίνησε την Κυριακή που μας πέρασε και πέραν των δύο πολύ γνωστών και αγαπημένων Α.Μ.Α.Ν, το πρόγραμμά του περιλαμβάνει και άλλες cult φυσιογνωμίες του ραδιοφώνου και της Θεσσαλονίκης γενικότερα όπως ο Στάθης "Σκύλος" Παναγιωτόπουλος. Ο σταθμός βρίσκεται βεβαίως στην αγαπημένη Θεσσαλονίκη, αλλά υπάρχει και live αναμετάδοση μέσω των Internets στο site του σταθμού, η οποία μάλιστα είναι εξαιρετικής ποιότητας.

Το μότο του σταθμού είναι "το ραδιόφωνο όπως το φαντάστηκες" και μέχρι τώρα πραγματοποιούν αυτή την υπόσχεση. Είμαστε σε μια εποχή (πω-πω με πιάνει η σοβαροφάνεια πάλι!) όπου το ελληνικό ραδιόφωνο έχει καταντήσει εντελώς άνευρο, ανέραστο, με ελάχιστους παραγωγούς με άποψη και πολλή, πάρα πολλή, playlist. Λέει πολλά το γεγονός ότι την καλύτερη μουσική παίζουν οι αθλητικοί ραδιοσταθμοί, όχι οι μουσικοί. Radio Nowhere που λέει και το Αφεντικό, ο Bruce.

Ακόμα και οι περίφημες έρευνες για το ραδιόφωνο που κάνουν οι εταιρίες φαντάζουν αστείες. Προσωπικά με είχαν ρωτήσει στο τηλέφωνο σε μια τέτοια έρευνα αν ακούω τρεις συγκεκριμένους σταθμούς, οι οποίοι παίζουν αποκλειστικά playlist. Τους απάντησα "όχι, ποτέ" με ευχαρίστησαν και μου το έκλεισαν στη μούρη. Ρώτα ρε γιατί ενώ μου αρέσει το είδος της μουσικής των σταθμών αυτών, προτιμώ να ακούω άλλους σταθμούς, ρώτα γιατί προτιμώ αυτούς που προτιμώ. Αλλά εδώ δεν κάνουμε έρευνες για να βρούμε την αλήθεια, κάνουμε έρευνες για να βρούμε την πλευρά της αλήθειας η οποία μας αρέσει και μας ταιριάζει.

(Φόρα πείρα ο αναθεματισμένος, δεν είναι να αρχίσω να γκρινιάζω.)

Από την άλλη, ο Imagine μέχρι τώρα (και μακάρι, μακάρι να παραμείνει έτσι) είναι όντως το ραδιόφωνο όπως θα έπρεπε να είναι. Ένας σταθμός καθαρά ροκ, αλλά στη νοοτροπία του, όχι με την όποια περιορισμένη άποψη έχει ο καθένας για το τι είναι πραγματικά ροκ στη μουσική. Ένας σταθμός καθαρά της παρέας, χαβαλεδιάρικος, με μουσική την οποία κατ' αρχάς γουστάρουν οι ίδιοι οι παραγωγοί του να παίζουν.

Και φαίνεται αυτό, βγαίνει στον αέρα. Χαίρεσαι να τους ακούς, ακόμα και όταν δεν μιλάνε για κάτι συγκεκριμένο, ακόμα και όταν βγαίνει ο κάθε ακροατής και απλά λέει τον πόνο του ή την καψούρα του. Και, για να το θέσω κομψά, άντε και γαμηθείτε εσείς οι κυνικοί, το ραδιόφωνο ήταν πάντα το πιο ανθρώπινο μέσο, τέτοια πράγματα είναι πάντα ευπρόσδεκτα σε αυτό το χώρο. Η εκπομπή ειδικά του Αντώνη Κανάκη χθες το βράδυ (δυστυχώς έχασα την εκπομπή της Δευτέρας...) η οποία ξεκίνησε στις 11 το βράδυ και τελείωσε μετά τις 3 το βράδυ ήταν συγκλονιστική. Από πλευρά μουσικής, από πλευρά καλής διασκέδασης, χαβαλέ, επικοινωνίας, τα πάντα. Δεν πρόλαβα ποτέ τις παλιές εποχές των πειρατικών σταθμών, λόγο ηλικίας, αλλά από ό,τι λένε όλοι, θύμισε πολύ τις εποχές εκείνες.

Μπράβο ρε παιδιά, πάντα είχατε το χάρισμα να ξεφεύγετε από τη μιζέρια που μας πιάνει συχνά-πυκνά σε αυτή τη χώρα, και χαίρομαι πραγματικά που καταφέρατε για μια ακόμα φορά το ίδιο. Πάντα τέτοια, και εις ανώτερα.

Tip Off time

Expect a flurry of updates today, as I think it's a nice way to end the most productive month this blog as ever seen. I also have a lot of things I'd like to speak about.

First of all, happy Halloween if you celebrate it, you godless heathens! Halloween is always a fun time, or at least that's how it seems like to a guy who has lived all his life in an Orthodox Christian country.

Anyway, after a long wait, the NBA season has finally started. Kobe Bryant hasn't been traded yet, but he seem to be eager to show that despite not liking the team he's in, he's still a professional. Kobe scored 45 points against the Rockets last night, which still weren't enough for his team as they lost 95-92 with a clutch three-pointer by Rockets forward Shane Battier. I still can't understand how a Phil Jackson team can be so mediocre as this Lakers team of the last couple of years.

In other games, the reigning champions San Antonio Spurs edged out the Blazers and Utah defeated Golden State, neither of which results should surprise anyone. I'm wondering if Kirilenko will see any more playing time than last year, after his less-than-favorable comments about the Jazz coach last September. He probably won't, which is a shame as he's a great player.

I think I'll be rooting for the Bulls this year, as I really like their younger players and I'm a Ben Wallace fan. I also really liked Scott Skiles (their current coach) as a player, and he's not a bad coach either. I don't really see them doing any better than last year when they reached the conference semi-finals, but you never know with the East conference. Hell, if the Cavs can make the NBA finals, anything is possible.

I'll also be rooting for the Washington Wizards since Gilbert Arenas is really damn awesome. His blog is really entertaining to read, and he's just as good as a basketball player too. He has amazing confidence in his skills and for that reason makes for an excellent clutch shooter.

Closing this first post for the day with an advertisement for the NBA, starring no other than Gilbert Arenas.

Veronica Mars in the FBI

I finally managed to see the oft-discussed about "pilot" of Veronica Mars' fourth season, which proves that this was indeed the direction that the show was heading to. That being Veronica becoming an FBI agent, with most (all?) of the regular cast being removed. Sadly, the "pilot" (putting this word inside quotation marks because it's only 12 minutes long) did not convince the people of the CW network, so the show was canceled for good.

I can see why this happened, though. There's a lot to like, of course, the new ambiance was really good, the more mature approach worked well, the cinematography was beautiful, and Veronica is the same character that made the show so endearing. But... Everything else feels so bland. The new characters are pretty uninspiring, the dialog seemed kind of forced at times, and well, I can't help but think that there was no big, significant, change from the school/college version of the show. It felt kind of samey, not quite school-girl-amongst-adults as some of the criticism stated, but not too far off either. Perhaps I was expecting something more CSI/X-Files-esque.

Of course, it's kind of unfair to criticize the entire effort on a mere 12 minutes of video, but when that's all the time you get in order to impress people (especially executives), you have to bring out the big guns, so to speak. Horrible, horrible expression, but it's the only one that comes to mind. *d''oh*

That being said, watching this pilot made me realize how much I miss this damn show. I watched the series finale again, and my gods is it ever beautiful. It doesn't matter if it weren't intended as a series finale, it works great for a show which always had loss as one of its main themes. I'm thinking of adding a link to it soon.

If you want to watch the pilot, take a look here and here for part 2.

In other news, according to this source, Firefox has apparently overtaken IE6 and IE7 as the leading web browser. This is somewhat of a false statement though, as if you were to combine the IE6 and IE7 percentages, they overtake Firefox. I can only assume that the IE6 users are casual, "OMG how did this end up in here I'm not good with computers" users, which is the only explanation why they haven't upgraded their browsers yet.

Still, that's quite an achievement for Firefox. Hopefully that won't mean that Firefox will have a lot of security leaks in the near future.

Odd and the Frost Giants

The title refers to Neil Gaiman's latest story, which in his own words will be a "novelette". Anything that Mr. Gaiman writes is essential reading, and yes my opinion is completely unbiased. Seriously. If you haven't read his works yet, what are you waiting for? Start with American Gods and the Sandman comics, and go on from there.

You can read more about this new story, including the introduction to Chapter 3, in his blog. I personally cannot wait. Now if only I could find a copy of Fragile Things here (I don't want to order it from Amazon at the moment for a variety of reasons) everything would be great. Oh, well.

I've been trying to write a long post about the concept suggesting that MMORPG's are all about immersion and escapism, and how that is a lie, but so far I'm not happy with the result. Fingers crossed, it should be ready within the week.

Last thing for today, another of my favorite Daily Show segments of the year so far, Language Burier: