Some things...

...just should not be questioned.

Holy Anticipation Batman

It's been quite some time since I've really looked forward to seeing a movie in the theaters. Actually, ever since finally putting the last part of the home theater into place (the 65" HDTV), going to the theaters is usually more as an opportunity to get out with the family and enjoy the time with them than it is about the movie itself.

That changes this weekend. That changes with 300!!!

I'll admit it - I'm a huge sucker for visuals in a movie. I could care less if 99.9987% of a movie is made on a computer - if it looks good, it's good in my book. Take that and mix it with a unique visual style and I'm even more turned on. Take for example (and not by coincendence) Sin City. The use of black and white, with seemingly random additions of color was just awesome! By all accounts, it seems that 300 will deliver everything there in spades.

Then...who the hell doesn't love carnage! Well, my wife for one, but I'll thank my lucky stars she rocks and lets me have these little guilty pleasures from time to time. Anyways, the trailers makes 300 look like all the fight scenes of Gladiator strung back-to-back-to-back and then amped up on the strongest steroids known to man. The clips that are out also show some Bullet Time™-esque camera work, which I also love seeing as I'm a huge fan of The Matrix and that style of filming. It almost makes you feel like you're heartrate is slowing down a tad during the scene...

Sooo yes...I'm totally amped to see the flick, and am going in with HUGE expectations. I just hope I'm not setting myself up for a nasty fall (but somehow I think I'm safe ). I'll close with a clip of exactly what I'm talking about. Enjoy!

B.

Truth of business travel - one man's perspective

I’m sure there are plenty out in our community that travel on business from time to time. My business travel is far from extensive, with about 3-5 trips per year ranging from a few days to a week at most. I’m currently down in Dallas taking in an annual conference put on my a professional association I’m a member of. You know…the kind of conference that looks good on that performance appraisal at the end of the year.

Well, got in yesterday afternoon after a routine flight down from Newark. Unremarkable shuttle ride from the airport, and a quick check-in to the hotel. Then, was time to hunt down something for dinner. Fortunately, I have a boss who I’m convinced never even opens the expense report and just approves it, so racking up a dinner bill isn’t an issue. I hit the restaurant at the top of the hotel, up on the 38th floor in downtown Dallas. The sight is incredible as I get there just around sunset. A pair of cocktails while I wait for them to start sitting for dinner, and then a meal of filet minion, sautéed mushrooms, and a nice glass of merlot. Finish the whole thing off with a chocolate masterpiece with fresh berries.

Sounds pretty sweet eh? I’d think so too, so then why can I only think of last night in light of the words of ‘ol Captain Barbossa:

“For too long I've been parched of thirst and unable to quench it. Too long I've been starving to death and haven't died. I feel nothing.”

Not even the most lavish dinner I was able to procure was able to back off the feeling that comes with every one of these trips – loneliness. With a family 1300 miles away, stuck sitting at a dinner table that I’d give anything to share with my wife, and only a book to keep me company, it’s almost overwhelming.

So, for you who travel routinely and with greater frequency than I – how do you do it? How do you shake the feeling of being dislocated from your friends and family and be able to enjoy the sights, sounds, and tastes of the locale you find yourself in? All I do know is that I’m looking forward to nothing more than the flight home tomorrow and getting back to what I know – screaming kids, cats that hate me, a wife breaking my stones from time to time, you know…normal life. 

B.

Boy does the name fit...

The name is Crackdown, with an emphasis on the CRACK. 

Holy mother of God, is this game addicting.  So while moaning and groaning along on the Elliptical of Death™, I got to thinking “why”?  What is it that makes Crackdown so hard to put down?

Well, first thing is the polar opposite of the question – it’s about how easy it is to pick up.  I suppose that comes part-and-parcel with a ‘sandbox’ style game, but for those of us who have sporadic play times, it’s a great thing.  Nothing is better for an adult gamer than a title that you can pop in for 15 minutes, and turn it off feeling like that time was fun.  Crackdown has that in spades. 

Next one was obvious – it’s all about the orbs.  I will freely admit it … I am an orb addict.  There isn’t much in that game that perks my eyes up like jumping around and then, out of nowhere, hearing that oscillating tone go off indicating a nearby orb just waiting to be found.  The first day I had the game, collecting orbs was all I did.  Take down a general?  Nope.  Whack down a bunch of gang members roaming the street?  Nahh.  Jump from building to building to building looking for those glowing green globs of goodness?  HELL YA!

Then there is just the wanton destruction of public property.  Don’t lie…if you’ve played the game, you got an inner giggle going when you tossed an explosive canister into the middle of a busy intersection then hit it with a grenade or rocket, and sat perched on your skyscraper at the ensuing mayhem.  You know you’ve done it…we all have.  I suppose it makes us all a little sick in the head, but it’s just funny to watch.  Seeing some poor civilian’s corpse go spiraling up into the air, smoke trail behind it like a leash to your earth shattering KABOOM, well, we all love it.

Then finally there is the co-op.  This game was made for co-op, pure and simple.  While you don’t absolutely need a partner to work your way through the game, it’s just too much fun to assault a given base of operations from two sides, and hope to God you don’t cross paths in the middle (because if you do, usually someone is eating a rocket or a grenade ;).  Sure, the foot races are fun solo – but add in another person who is actively trying to get in your way and beat you to that final green pylon…that’s where the fun really is.  And…well you can’t surf on top of a car driving in reckless abandon while playing alone.

Soo…what is wrong with the game?  Only thing I can think of is the developers didn’t have the foresight to do whatever it took to get a Matrix licensing for this game.  MY GOD does it scream for it.  Tint everything with a little bit of brown and green, replace the kingpins with agents or make them rescue missions of a yet-to-be-freed person, and it’s instant gold in my book.  Hell, code in a pseudo Bullet Time action when you max out Agility (which you’d get by finding pieces of “code” around the city) and Strength – and oh the havoc and beauty.   Will it ever happen?  Absolutely not.  Why not…well, I’m certain that every Matrix game is doomed to suck, and there is no way in hell I want to condemn this awesome title to such a fate.

So, if you happen to see me online and playing, either drop me an invite or jump into my game.  I’m always looking for a partner, and there’s always some scum to clean up in Pacific City.

B.

Imitation...

…is the sincerest form of flattery, or so the saying goes. So, with that said, I am going to blatantly steal Go_Aachmed’s “Beer Belly Files” and give you a view into my choice of beverage during dinner tonight.

I stumbled upon this beer while doing some shopping the day before the SuperBowl. I bought it with the intention of enjoying it before company started showing up, but things got hectic earlier than I had anticipated, and I never got around to enjoying it. I remembered this on the drive home tonight, and was intent on getting there and popping this one open right away. The beer comes from St. Peter’s Brewery in Suffolk, England and is their Golden Ale.

The brewery at St. Peter’s is housed in listed former agricultural buildings which were last used in the late Sixties. They then became derelict but offered a superb site both for a working brewery and a visitors’ attraction. Today, the brewery produces ‘real ale’ and has a capacity of 200 barrels/wk (57,600 pints).

The Golden Ale uses English Pale malts coupled with Challenger Goldings hops to delivery a quite remarkable bitterness and aroma. There was a distinct aftertaste with the beer, but not so much as to be unpleasant. It was certainly not a beer you chug down, but rather one to enjoy draw by draw. The Golden Ale has a 4.7% ABV and retailed in for $4.99 for a 500mL bottle.

Tomorrow (or whenever I get to posting up about it) will be the Cream Stout which, after enjoying this brew so much, I am very much looking forward to.

B.