Twenty-Eleven

Twenty-Eleven, not Two Thousand and Eleven. That makes you sound like such a dork.
“What year is it?”
“It is the good year of two thousand and eleven, my liege.”
“Wtf are you kissing my hand?”

With that out of the way, lets get to it. You know what’s coming.
As tradition for the past 4 years (holy poo this blog is 4 years old!), I am starting this year’s postings off by going back over the year and giving a quick update to set the time frame so in 20 years when I’m at my dead-end job I’ll have something to laugh at.
The past three years entries are,“The Start of a Decade “Unclench your fist and extend a hand” and “5 Days of Freedom”, go check them out first, I think its funny and interesting to see how much things have changed in 4 years.

Economic/Political: The war in Iraq is still going down. Obama’s been in office for two years and he has begun to relocate troops out of Iraq and into Afghanistan, but it wouldn’t surprise me if by the next time I write one of these that we’ve invaded somewhere else, North Korea or Iran, I’m looking at you two. The Economy still is pretty bad, but we’ve seen some improvement this past year, a few restaurants in town opened up and are doing great. It takes about 60 bucks to fill up my truck now. The oil spill this past summer really has boosted the “green” movement nationally, people were appalled at the devastation the Gulf Oil spill caused. I guess people are just unaware where things come from, maybe. Italy has banned plastic bags as of this year, I believe. And California has begun to enact laws which forbade kids meals at fast food places to serve over a certain amount of calories per meal. *applause*

Entertainment: Marvel bought Disney. Dunno what to really think of that, haven’t seen too much interaction between the two companies, so hopefully they respect their properties and leave them to do their own thing. Blizzard released both Starcraft II and the Warcraft expansion Cataclysm to record breaking sales. Currently my local theater is playing: “Season of the Witch.”, “Country Strong”, “Little Fockers”, “True Grit”, “Tron: Legacy”, “The Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader”.

All right, that about sums things up. As for me I am sitting here typing this in my room on my Dell computer, (my new Digital Storm right should be arriving in a week or two!) AIM is running and I’m not talking to anyone at the moment. My Xbox is on behind me, paused at the menu screen for Star Wars: Force Unleashed. I just pulled down a Star Destroyer with the Force. It was pretty intense.
Last year my resolution was to exercise a lot more. It didn’t happen. Instead, tho, I really started to watch what I ate. I’ve lost at least 20lbs in the past 6 months. I feel great! In last year’s post I said I successfully went a year without fast food, well I’m proud to say another year accomplished, with only 2 slight incursions. One was my birthday, which I will do again this year (with some beer! woot!) and then another time was on the way to a Lightning game. Sure i didn’t go the entire year per say, but i really just don’t want fast food anymore, it’s gotten to the point where it’s just undesirable to me.
Also, I finished my AA this year! Finally done with the classes that don’t matter anymore. And most importantly, NO MORE MATH #$^@ YEA!.
I had UCF orientation today, turns out, transferring between fall-spring terms is not a great idea. Not enough classes available, not enough time to get situated, especially when your previous institution doesn’t send the right paper work which keeps you from being able to register to begin with. gahh. So, I’m taking a breather, and making bank for the next 4 months until summer classes begin. Crap, I hope I’m not reading this next year and yelling angrily at my current (then, past) self.

I’m reading a book called “Stormrage” a book about Malfurion Stormrage, a druid in Azeroth (that’s the world, of the World of Warcraft) who is trapped in some sort of dream-coma state that is slowly being corrupted and turning into a nightmare-state. It’s pretty interesting since I just started a druid preceding the release of Cataclysm.

I think im going to blog some more for my Geek Culture blog http://epicbrew.net .

Complete Tron: Legacy, Daft Punk Soundtrack for $4.

I have no idea how long this will last, so act like Amazon probably hopes you will, impulsively, and pick up this awesome soundtrack.

I downloaded it earlier today and have been listening to it all night, and it’s great.

Pickup the TRON: Legacy soundtrack right here for $3.99.

If you have never downloaded from the Amazon MP3 store before, you simply make an account, download Amazon’s MP3 downloader, and voila: DRM-free MP3s for you.

Here’s just a sample of what the Tron: Legacy soundtrack has to offer –

The Mighty Young Grasshoppa’

As Cataclysm installed onto my hard drive, I heard a thumping noise, not from my computer, but from my window.

Clinging on the screen that’s mounted on the outside of my window were two grasshoppers. Big grasshoppers, fighting over a difference unknown to myself. Ignorant of the reason, I did not stop myself from enjoying the spectacle of battle.

Grasshopper A had B in what I imagined to be a Grasshopper choke hold. A’s front legs were pushing up into B’s throat area. B swung back on his hind legs and his two front legs swung up and knocked A back, successfully freeing himself from the choke hold. Wasting no time B began using his head to ram into A’s face as A struggled to regain himself after being knocked back. B was hitting A in the body with his head so hard that it knocked A off the screen and he fell onto the roof of the lower part of my house.

I slid my chair over to the window and peered down onto the roof. B had jumped down to potentially finish off his disoriented foe. I watched as B warily approached the unmoving A. I wondered why B was being so careful, then A sprung back to life and flipped himself up and pounced onto B. A had B pinned to the roof.
I watched as A put both of his front legs onto either side of B’s head, in what I presumed to be the choke hold again. To my amazement I watched as what I thought was the choke hold turned out to be a Fatality move straight out of Mortal Kombat.
A pulled B’s head off.

“Hhhhhooooooooooooooohhhhhhhh!” Is what I had to say about that.

A then flew up to the screen where he remained basking in victory long enough for me to snap this picture of him, and his fallen foe in the background, head laying just back of the body.

Irvin Kershner.

Just learned that legendary director of The Empire Strikes Back (Star Wars episode 5) has passed away at age 87.

Empire was a huge part of my childhood, along with the other two Star Wars movies it was sandwiched in between.

The Force will be with you. Always.
RIP Irvin Kershner.

On Sale @ Amazon: Trine

For today and the foreseeable near future, Amazon is offering the game Trine for download for $7.

Last year when this game came out I gave it a try and it completely consumed me for about two weeks. The game is a platformer that consists of you navigating through dungeons and forests while alternating through three different character types to fit the given situation you are in.
There is a Wizard, an Assassin, and a Warrior.
The Wizard can conjure up floating platforms and telepathically move things which are out of reach.
The Assassin can shoot arrows and can swing around on her grappling hook.
And the Warrior is all about brute force, moving obstacles, or crushing ones too big to move.

The game is a perfectly balanced, and is one of the best modern platformers I have played.
Check out the trailer and seriously consider giving this game a download.
It’s only $7!

As you can see, it’s focused heavily on physics-based puzzles, which might strain some older PCs, so definitely check the system requirements before purchasing it.
But I do believe an Xbox Live Arcade and a Playstation Online version are in the works…

Night Elves are NOT this cool…

With the release of World of Warcraft Cataclysm just around the corner, YouTube has seen it’s share of Beta Testing previews, cinematics, and fan-made movies. Recently the entire revamped World of Warcraft music scores have been added to that list.
Before I delve into the reason for the title of this article, I want to take a minute to point out just how amazing these new tracks are. The composer, Russell Brower, did a SPECTACULAR job creating new epic themes, while paying homage to the original tracks. Mr.Brower my invisible hat is off to you.
HOWEVER – Mr.Brower, I have on slight problem…
The Night Elves theme song is wayyyy too cool for the Night Elves. Yes, I am 100% born and raised Horde (Lok tar o’gar!) buuut, I really don’t think those tall, goofy looking, pointy-eared, bruised-skin-colored, tree huggers should have such an awesome track.
Just take a listen, and hear for yourselves.

Remember, that song is supposed to be reflective of THESE -

Toronto Zombie Walk 2010

Do not adjust your screens, the Zombie Apocalypse is not occurring before your very eyes. It’s just the annual Toronto Zombie Walk.

You know, the usual get together. Dress up, stroll down the road, meet some friends, munch some brains. The usual.

Click HERE to go to the event’s page where there are a ton more pictures. Not for the feint of heart, fair warning.

The Ultimate Movie List

With the awesome magical powers of the website Flickchart.com you have the ability to assemble your own personal *Insert Thunderous Echo Here* ULTIMATE MOVIE LIST.

Using the site is as simple as picking your nose.
Make an account and start rating movies.
Flickchart will present you with two posters for two different movies. Of the two movies, you click which one is your favorite.

For example, Independence Day and the live-action 101 Dalmatians is brought to the judgment table.
Personally, I’d click Independence Day, but maybe you’ve never seen it? All that you would do in that case is simply click the “Haven’t Seen It” button, and a new movie replaces Independence Day.
If you have not seen either of the movies presented, the innovative folks at Flickchart have even made a “I Haven’t Seen Either of These” button, which you would then click.

With the access to your personal Top 20, you also will have access to your “List of Shame” where it shows movies that you’ve clicked the “Haven’t Seen It” button for.

Sometimes the choices can be tough. I had to pick between Peter Jackson’s King Kong and Batman Begins the other day. So my strategy is to ask myself: If I was forced to sit down and watch one of these two movies and do nothing else until I’ve completed the movies, which one would I rather watch?
The answer was Batman Begins, because it was shorter. ;]

It’s a totally awesome and fun site that I use daily in attempts to chisel out my *Re-using Thunderous Echo* (Come on folks, I’m on a budget and those sound modulations are expensive), ULTIMATE MOVIE LIST.

Epic Green Lantern Trailer

A truly impressive, fan-made, trailer for a Green Lantern movie.
YouTube user JronPitts mixed footage and sound clips from Star Wars, Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, the Matrix, Fantastic Four and so many others that I notice every time I watch the trailer.

Check out JronPitts’ Youtube Channel for a bunch of other well made mock trailers.

Life in Express #1

There are so many times where a father/mother doesn’t allow their kid to get something they want, when the parents are buying a ton of beer/dog food/other crap that they don’t need, on their food stamps card.

It pisses me off when people treat their food stamps cards like some grocery gift card they won, and then are too damn selfish to let their kids get a $.79 piece of candy.
Don’t offend me by using my tax money to get drunk and feed your dog so it can poop on my lawn!