Art shows, Zombies and Waffles.

This weekend was kind of productive but not really.

After work on Friday I met up with Chris C, Adam and Lindsay and we went to Nic's art show. It was a show of pretty much everyone who works at Uptown Tattoo, and there was a lot of awesome stuff.

Saturday was mainly spent around the house cleaning. Lindsay had to meet a bunch of her freelancers and interns at the Tea Garden, and ended up spending 8 hours or so there. I took the opportunity to clean like crazy, which was nice.

About an hour before Lindsay came home, I played some Resident Evil 5 with Chris C. Since I've beat the game I've been going nuts collecting all the BSAA symbols, getting all the weapons, and, when someone else is around, playing Mercenaries mode. It's fast-paced and stressful, but really fun, take on the RE formula. I was included in RE4, too, but I barely dabbled in it. It's a lot more fun Co-op, so Xbox LIVE is the perfect match.

After our virtual play-date, Lindsay and I met Chris C to go get some late-night eats. So we hit up the Grand Ave Green Mill for some wings, spinach dip and fries. Real healthy.

We got home at 1, but Lindsay had a ton of work to do and needed to stay up really late. Chris C and I ran through some of the RE5 levels getting some of the secrets and achievements. He gave up at 3:30 am, and I thought that was a good time to stop too. But Lindsay begged me to stay up longer, so I did. We finally get to bed at about 5:30 or 6 am. I am stupid.

Today was a slow start, obviously. Lindsay made some blueberry and strawberry waffles for breakfast (at 2 pm). We ran some errands and spent a good chunk of time at the Tea Garden. In fact, we're still here, but I'm getting awfully hungry...

I did this drawing, and now I'm turning it into a painting. Good luck, me!

Cured. I hope.

I'm feeling much better, thanks for asking. I'm currently on a steady stream of vitamins, de-toxifiers, supplements and nasty tasting, but healthy powders you mix with water.

When I saw a Doctor he told me nothing to explain why I was sick, but gave me pills anyway. I decided after the first couple days that it was stupid to take pills given to me by someone who couldn't tell me what was wrong...

So we went to Whole Foods and got a huge amount of natural, organic hoohaa to see if any of that helped. And maybe it did. Or maybe I'm just finally getting better and it just so happens to be right after I dropped some cash of some herbal goodness.

Either way, I don't care. I'm feeling good and that's all that matters.

Last night I beat The Lost and Damned. I thought it was pretty great. I liked GTA 4, but as I've said before, it just dragged on too long, and the story didn't feel important as a result.

LATD was much, much shorter, thankfully. And it's brevity helped make every mission important to the overall story arch so I didn't feel like I was grinding or doing anything superfluous during the game. I always had a place to be, and reason to be there. The missions also seemed they like were tuned to be slightly more forgiving than in GTA 4, and not only because of the mid-mission checkpoints (finally!).

I also like the smaller cast of character, a couple of whom I actually gave 1/2 a crap about by the end of the game, if only because they are super helpful. Terry and Clay, especially, earned my thanks and affection, mainly because I could call them for backup at anytime. They'd also deliver bikes and weapons to me anywhere in the city which is awesome, too. Not to mention Clay's voice acting was especially charming.

Johnny, the main character, whom I wasn't too keen on at first, ended up being someone I really liked by the end.

So overall, I would totally recommend it. I can see how a lot of people might have never even gotten close to beating GTA 4, so they wouldn't need more content. But even if someone was playing GTA 4, just got bored and quit, I'd probably recommend The Lost and Damned.

Overall, it's tighter, more interesting, and a better overall game. I was sad when it ended, and that's high praise indeed...

Things to come.

I've been meaning to write lately, but I've been busy, sick and tired.

Here's a list of topics, mainly to remind myself of what I wanted to write about...

• A list of organic pills, vitamins, supplements to try to cure me.
• I beat Killzone 2 and have some thoughts about the game as a whole, and especially the frustrating ending...
• Not being able to eat without getting sick. Going on three weeks.
• I beat Resident Evil 5 and have some thoughts about the game as a whole, and especially the frustrating ending...
• Dancing like crazy on Lindsay's birthday, and how it was almost a disaster in more ways than one.
• Working late, coming home to work for another client, then doing a little bit more work for the first one before 2 am rolls around, only to get up and do it all again.
• Nearly through The Lost and Damned. Noticed my last post kept calling it The Lost and The Damned.
• New albums like MF Doom, Ratatat, Jake One and N.A.S.A.
• Trying to write blog posts when I should be sleeping, and why shit like that is killing me.

I'm going to try to get to all of those things soon, and more!

The Lost and Damned and Me.

I am still sick, but I might be getting better. I actually went to the Doctors on Wednesday, because it's been about 2 weeks since I've been able to eat normally, and I figured that was long enough.

The biggest thing keeping me from going to see the Doctor is that it's always a waste of time. I go, they do their thing, they inevitably tell me they don't know, here's their best guess, call me again if you're not better in a couple weeks.

And that is exactly what happened. It's probably a virus, it will probably go away, there's probably nothing I can do. Thanks.

So that sucks and I'm craving a real meal. What's terrible is that when I don't eat I feel pretty good. So I get hungry. But I know as soon as that food hits my stomach, I have about 20 minutes until I am going to be sick like no one's business. So even though I do have an apatite, I'm just afraid to eat.

Maybe I'm better? I don't know, I haven't tried eating today...



I did download The Lost and The Damned, the expansion to Grand Theft Auto 4. It's got completely new main character, a new story, new music, new weapons, new vehicles and a few new gameplay mechanics. And it's good. Just like GTA 4 was good.

I did beat GTA 4 quite a while ago, and by the time I was finished, I was pretty sick of the game. I had to drag myself through the last few missions (although the last one or two had enough of an emotion pull that I did get a little caught up in it). It was such a long game that by the end I was a little fatigued.

But the city they created for the game, Liberty City, was so huge, dense and well-realized that I felt like I hadn't even seen a fraction of it. A little while ago, I got the itch to go visit Liberty City, so I popped in the game. But it wasn't really the same.

Wandering aimlessly around Liberty City is impossible. It's so dense, so complicated and so huge that you get lost if you don't have anywhere to go. Which is where The Lost and The Damned comes in... A renewed sense of direction and purpose.

So far The Lost and the Damned seems just as good as GTA 4 was. Actually, maybe it's better. The characters are all jerks and scumbags so far, including you, but I like that. I like my psychotic, hard-living gang leader more than I liked Brucie or Kate from GTA 4. And knowing the story is an 8-10 hour ordeal is an easier pill to swallow that GTA 4's bloated 30+ hour story...

So I give it my seal of approval. The music is really good, as usual. It's hard to know where the old tracks end and the new ones begin, since they're all mixed in together, but I do notice that I'm switching radio stations less...

Files aren't forever.

Today I got sick after I ate. Again. Which has happened pretty much every time I've eaten since a week and a half ago... I tried not eating for as long as I can, and I try just eating bread, soups, salad, anything I can think of that doesn't have the potential to make me sick. But it still does.

I called the Doctor, and got an appointment in the afternoon. Lucky me. But when I was about 5 minutes away from the Hospital, they called me back and said the doctor I was scheduled to see had to leave, so I had to reschedule.

So tomorrow then.

I'm at the Tea Garden right now, with Lindsay and Chris C. I ran over to First Tech and bought a new mouse, mine was getting really jumpy, which is a pain in the ass with OSX's Exposé active. The mouse had a tendency to loose it's tracking and just jump to the corner that triggered Exposé. Annoying. I could have switched it, but the jittery randomness of the mouse was annoying enough to warrant a new one, and I am so accustomed to having Exposé in that corner, and it took a while to get to that point.

I also got a new 500 gig external hard drive. Man, storage is so cheap now it's ridiculous. I've really been lacking in my back-up habits lately, and I've got to get on that. I was good about it for a while, but files accumulated, sprawled and got real confusing.

So I totally cleaned up every folder on my computer.

All I have is art. Tons and tons and tons of it. All my media like music and photos are on an external drive, because the art takes up a whole lot of space and I like to have it with me.

And it was organized at one point. But then I'd make a bunch of new art, group it all up and stick it in a "NEW ART" folder. Then I'd make more and stick it in a "RECENT ART" folder. Then I'm make more and stick it in a "ART ART ART" folder.

Every time I sorted a folder and thought I was done, I'd find another that was just as big. Each one had 20-40 pieces in it, of varying quality and states of completion. I forget all this stuff I work on and leave behind.

So I had to decide if each piece was Website-Worthy, Leave-On-the-Harddrive-to-Continue-Working-on-Worthy, or Archive-Graveyard-Worthy. Or somewhere in between.

Most of it was Archive-Graveyard-Worthy. But there were quite a few in all categories.

Now I can do a complete back-up and I won't have to worry so much...

Being sick for the weekend.

This weekend I was sick a lot. I get sick every time I eat anything.

This weekend I spent a lot of time around the house. Playing Resident Evil 5, Killzone 2, cleaning, being sick.

Saturday we went for a walk with the dogs, because it was warm and nice. A two and a half mile walk didn't seem bad. But melting, super-slick ice, giant puddles and excitable dogs turned it into an hour and a half adventure.

The next day I hung around the house in the morning while Lindsay helped her students had a show. Then I met her and Chris C in Uptown and we walked around, she bought a bunch of crap, I just wanted some sun and fresh air. And I got it.

being sick has some perks.

Friday wasn't all bad. Sure, I went to work, ate lunch, and got horribly sick. That's how it goes this week. Every time I eat I get completely and unbearably sick. It sucks.

I tried to deal with it, but eventually it got the better of me. I was spending more time staring at my monitor trying not to blow chunks than I was working.



I went home and cracked open Resident Evil 5 and played for an hour or two. And it's totally awesome. I got nervous because the public perception of this game has shifted in the past couple weeks, from people being joyfully optimistic to terribly pessimistic, mainly thanks to the controls and the fact that the game isn't scary.

And I can see where the criticism stems from. The controls are pulled straight from a 5 year old PS2 game, and the demo proved they were going to change much, if at all. And people were right in thinking the game wasn't going to be too scary, as the series hasn't been particularly frightening since the original couple games.

So with expectations in check, I gave the game a go. And I love it.

It's not scary, but neither was Resident Evil 4. And I don't really need it to be scary. But there is a definite sense of dread and suspense, if only because you're often thrown just a couple more enemies than you feel comfortable handling...

And I come right out and say the controls don't bother me, in fact, I like the controls. Maybe I am just not as sensitive to the controls as some people. After all, I liked the controls in Killzone 2, Shadow of the Colossus and the DS Zelda game, all of which have been questioned as to whether they were "good" or not.

Granted, I'm only 3 chapters into game, but so far the controls have not resulted in many frustrating moments at all, and I have had a great time.

Anyway, after a while I was feeling better. So when Lindsay came home, we grabbed Chris C and went to the Deuce Seven opening at the SooVAC. It was packed, and a good time.

After that we went to Sakura. I figured I can't eat much, but a Boiled Chicken Salad is about as safe as I could get...

On the way to St Paul, I dropped of a print. Someone had seen my work when it was hanging a couple months ago, and remembered until now, when he finally contacted me. Which is cool.

After that Chris C and I played the first couple chapters of RE5 co-op, and then it was very late.

Purple Money.

Today I went into work a little late, no surprise. So I stayed until about 7 or so to even things out.

I went home and got some food and watched an episode of Co-Op at my computer. It's cool those guys got a deal with Rev 3, good for them.

Then I worked on some stuff for a while. I had an idea for something I wanted to do, but first I had to play around with type layout. I got kind of carried away and it became kind of it's own thing.

Right when I was uploading it, Ryan got ahold of me to play some Killzone 2. Which we did. We hooked up our 360 headsets so we could play a PS3 game, which was already ludicrous, but then we had a hell of a time trying to get into a game together.

If only I could just play these games on the Xbox, this online is so sub-par it hurts. I knew it was in theory, but now I know it is in practice. Previously I had so few friends on PSN, and there were so few games coming out that it didn't matter. Now it does, and it's kind of infuriating.

Plus, like many PS3 multiplayer games, the 32 player games to too big, chaotic, and uncommunicative to be much fun. When you get into a good game, and everyone is kind of on the same page, it can be a blast. Socom, Warhawk, and Killzone 2 all have the potential for a match to become a Perfect Storm, and the results are phenominal. But that's rare.

Most of the time it's just a big clusterfuck. Like tonight's games....

I think I attribute the random quality to the lack of matchmaking. Grrr.

Once again, nothing productive happened.

This Sunday, much like Friday and Saturday, was not very productive.

I got up late and worked out a bit. Lindsay got up really late, so I played a bit of Retro Game Challenge (which I'm on the last level of) and Killzone 2's campaign (which I'm also on the last level of) until she got up and ready.

We went to the Tea Garden, which I hoped to do some work, but I figured I should do my billing first, since people have been less likely to, you know, pay lately. By the time I got all that wrapped up, it was off to a dinner party at my former boss' house. I say dinner party, but it was just us and them, 4 total.

It was really nice, and they had made some awesome, awesome food. And of course we stayed a good hour longer than we had planned.

We got home around 10 PM, and a friend came by to use our large format printer. I was playing a song in Rockband 2 when he arrived, so once we got his print a-printin', he and Lindsay joined in for a song. One song led to two, which led to more. Before I knew it, it was late.

As I was walking my friend to the door, he started telling me about some problems he's been having lately. Before I knew it, it was really, really late.

But that's alright. I was painfully tired this morning, and got to work a fair bit late, but I'm cool with that.

A feast for four.

Saturday wasn't too exciting. I got up late and I went running at the gym. When I came home, Lindsay wanted to play some DDR, my my feet already hurt thanks to a long night of dancing and a morning of running, so I took a nap instead.

That night Adam, Lindsay and myself went to Chino Latino, where we met Lindsay's long-lost high school friend.

Chino might have a slightly-too trendy atmosphere, and it might be too-packed with vapid, beautiful people, but you can't argue that they don't have good food. Because damn that shit is good.

We all shared the Black Laab, Wok Glazed Green Beans, Cuban Pork Roast Crisis, Carne Asada ala Moreliana and a Mango Double Happiness Cake.

We had about 4 pounds of leftovers...

But I didn't eat so much that I felt sick, so good for me.

Afterward, Adam came back to our place and we played some SF4 and Killzone 2. After he left, Lindsay and I played Rock Band 2 until 4 am, thanks to Daylight Savings Time.

a Dance-Off is inevitable.

Alright, so it's Sunday again. It seems like time has been flying. Now there were down to the Skeleton Crew at work, it's a constant go-go-go all week.

This Friday Lindsay and I went out to Rice Paper, a sort of asian-fusion kind of place. I've actually never been a huge fan of it, though.

I tried something new, looking for that one special dish that will make me want to come back. What I got was super, super spicy, but ultimately kind of flavorless. I couldn't even eat more than a few bites. But I filled up on Ice Cream at Sebastian Joe's afterward.

At around 11:30 pm, Lindsay decided she wanted to play Dance Dance Revolution. Which we don't own.

So we ended up driving around looking for a 24-hour WalMart. Yuck. I try my hardest to avoid going into a WalMart, and I do a pretty good job of it, but there weren't any alternatives in this case...

Luckily we were able to find a copy of Dance Dance Revolution Universe 3 for the Xbox 360. I had heard it was bad, but Lindsay was pretty set on getting it so that was that.

We danced to the arrows until 4 am. DDRU3 not that bad, actually. I can see how it would be labeled bad. There are kind of long loading times. It's kind of hard to tell if you're hitting the notes or not. When you do miss, it's hard to tell exactly why. All of the music is pulled from a very narrow scope. And the visuals don't do anything to impress.

But it's also exactly what I expect from DDR. The music is probably what makes or breaks the game, and strangely enough, Lindsay has been on a kick for the type of music that DDR features prominently: music that sounds like it came straight from a cheesy club in Second Life...

Complain-time.

Alright, this is a rant, and it requires a lot of setup to appreciate. And it's about the Playstation 3. So if you don't care, skip it.

Killzone 2's multiplayer is pretty amazing. I've been playing a lot of it, and I've been really happy with it, so far.

I've been waiting for my friend's copy of the game to arrive, so we can finally tear it up together.

I was extra excited because I thought my number one problem with the PS3 and Playstation Network was finally addressed with a single feature in Killzone 2.

Alright. On Xbox LIVE, you can set up a party for 2-8 people. In this party, you and your 1-7 friends can all talk and play games together. It can be the same game, or you can all play different games. Some could watch a movie, some could browse the marketplace, some could play games together and some could play games alone. But they can all privately chat together as a group. Awesome. Fun.

On PSN, there is no real private chat. You can set up a private chat from the Cross Media Bar, or XMB, but you can't play games, watch movies, browse the store, or do anything at all, really, besides talk and look at the private chat screen.

This is a big problem. I don't public chat in multiplayer games. I won't, pretty much ever.

On Xbox, I just set up a private chat so I can choose who I want to talk to, and not be in communication with 8-32 other goons that I just don't want to socialize with in the slightest. Other than shooting them in their fat faces.

When I don't have friends online to chat with, I just don't wear my headset. On PSN, this is how it always is. Unfortunately.

But I thought Killzone 2 had a somewhat tolerable solution...

Once your in a multiplayer match, you can set up a Squad (of up to four people). A Squad is a great idea and has a lot of benefits; you can keep track of your Squadmates location and lifebars, you can spawn on the Squad leader, helping you stay and work together, and, most importantly, it gives you a Private Voice Channel. Awesome! Finally! Huzzah!

I couldn't wait to try it out, So last night I finally get my friend online and we form a Squad first thing. Success!

But wait, I can still hear my other teammates, and they can hear me... What? Why?

I try again, and it's the same. So we drop that match, get into a new one. We form a Squad and once again, I can hear my obnoxious, overly aggressive, mouth-breathing teammates...

We played for a bit (in silence). Finally, I get fed up and quit. I go straight to my computer and start checking online. After a fair amount of searching, I finally get a straight answer...

Squads do get a dedicated voice channel, that's absolutely true. The catch? There's still proximity voice chat. All the time. And you can't turn it off.

The "value" of the dedicated voice channel is that you can communicate with your squad from opposite ends of the map. Anyone who is not in your squad you can only hear when you stand right next to them.

Which means that I'm back to my original problem. I can't just hang out and chill and play a game with a friend and chat. I have to forced into a room where 16 other people are having conversations, shouting orders and being all-around obnoxious.

Why would I think that I could? It's the PS3, and I should know by now that their online implementation is so piss-poor I should never, ever expect even the slightest ease of use.

Private chat is only the begining, a first step, but it would have went a long way in alleviating my grievances with the PS3. I'm makes me really more frustrated than it should. I know that.

...sooooo. My grand solution?

We both turn on our Xbox 360's and use the party chat. Seriously. That's the best I got.

The funny part is, up until right now, I was totally sure Sony FINALLY came up with a viable voice chat solution. It might not have been perfect, it may have been inelegant, it may have been confusing and convoluted (if it HAD worked at all) but it was better than the alternative.... listening to 16-32 boners yammer at me all at once.

Crap.Killzone 2 is lucky it's good, because it's tough to put up with this nonsense.