Yes, now you can blame video games for your pets going berserk.
Don't believe me? See this article from the Daily Mail in the UK (h/t: Games Radar) that reports on a 9-year-old girl in the UK whose lip was bitten off by a bull mastiff, allegedly because the dog heard another dog barking. Megan Walker was playing Nintendogs on the Nintendo DS at the time, and I guess her dog was barking, setting off the vicious attack.
According to the Mail:
"Megan Walker's family say a friend’s bull mastiff cross went berserk when it heard barking on a Nintendo DS game.
It dragged Megan, nine, off a sofa as she played the virtual pet puppy game Nintendogs.
The dog sank its teeth into her face, bit her several times and ripped off her top lip.
Quick-thinking police officers put the piece of lip on ice and surgeons were able to sew it back on.
"I think this game should carry some kind of warning,' said the girl’s grandma Jean Taylor.
'People should be told not to play it when there are dogs in the room. I blame the game for what happened to Megan. If they hadn’t been playing it I don’t think the dog would have gone for her.'"
Really? Is it really the game's fault? If the bull mastiff was set off by the barking in a video game (I've never played it, so I have no idea how "realistic" the sounds are), wouldn't the dog be set off by the sound of *any* dog barking? Sure, if the barking's outside, the dog won't necessarily attack a person. But it sure would be a good indication that something's wrong with the dog, wouldn't it?
People should know their dogs enough to realize that there might be a problem. Megan was apparently at a friend's house. Shouldn't that family have known that the dog would be set off by barking? Or are there so few dogs in the neighborhood that it's never been an issue before?
No, I'm not necessarily blaming the family here (though I know it sounds like it). What I am saying is that it's ridiculous to blame the game, especially to the point of saying "there should be a warning on the game!" (At least Grandma isn't calling for an outright ban on the game...there's a first!).
I do think that, if you own a breed of dog that is known for violent actions (pit bulls, etc), you should be more aware of the personality of your dog, especially around other people. They may be trained well to respond to you, but what if you're not there? Should you make sure your guests are aware of things? Or just make sure you never leave your dog alone with guests?
Incidentally, I love how they slide this little tidbit in to the end of the article:
"Ms Melville was unavailable for comment, but it is understood that she told police that Megan may have kicked Saracen and that is why he attacked her."
Gee, wouldn't that change the complexion of the entire story? But no. Let's sensationalize the game aspect instead.
I've been on a thriller kick of late in my reading, with a mixture of other books. In fact, the mix I've been reading has mostly to do with what's come available from Curled Up With a Good Book (there is a list of books the editor receives from publishers that we reviewers can choose from).
In fact, just today I asked for three history books from the latest list.
Anyway, another review of mine has been posted to Curled Up, for the thriller by Lee Child called 61 Hours. It's another Jack Reacher novel. Don't worry if you haven't heard of him, as I hadn't either. But if this book is any indication (and it has actually been given some poor reviews from Reacher fans), then the other books must be marvelous, as I greatly enjoyed this novel.
From the review:
It’s the middle of a horribly cold winter in the wilds of South Dakota. Jack Reacher, former military man turned drifter, has finagled his way onto a senior citizens’ tour bus as it traverses the frigid roads. A sleepy driver and a nervous lawyer on his way home from doing a dastardly deed combine to force the bus off the road and involve Reacher in a game of small-town politics and global drug-running, as well as a mystery from the 1950s. When a snowbound town’s police force is tasked with safeguarding a witness as well as helping state prison authorities if there is ever any trouble at the new prison, the snow is the least of their worries. Too bad that same snow is preventing any help from arriving when all hell breaks loose.
I read this in the middle of Summer, and while it wasn't the hottest Summer up here in Vancouver, it got kind of warm. Yet I was almost cold reading this novel. That's how wonderful Child's description of the frozen wastes of South Dakota is. I loved the Reacher character, so much so that I may have to track down earlier books because fans say he's much better portrayed in those books.
Anyway, please read the review and let me know what you think. If you like thrillers, you'll probably like this book as well.
Hello, dear reader. I have a favour to ask you. The original post begins after all of the asterisks, if you want to skip this.
Now that the One Hit Wonders of the 90s series is over, I'm not going to be doing my weekly revisiting of all these posts (I had to do that to add the new post to the bottom). Thus, I won't be able to catch any broken picture links or deleted videos any more. Yet I want these posts to be as good as possible.
Please, if you happen upon one of these posts, or if you take a walk through a whole bunch of them, let me know if you find anything that doesn't work. You can leave a comment, or you can send me a message using that handy "Contact Me" page linked above.
Also, feel free to let me know what you think of the post or any of the videos!
Thank you.
**************************
Hello! And welcome to this week's edition of the one-hit wonders of the 90s. The weekly show that's so regular that it doesn't even need the fiber supplement I put it on.
You know, just to make sure. It often asks me about that "not so fresh" feeling too, but I tell it to talk to it's mother about that.
Anyway, we're now entering the glorious year of 1998! If by "glorious," I mean "maybe not quite as irritating as previous years."
We're nearing the end of the decade, and it's been a long haul. Sometimes, I feel like I've been run over by a truck.
But I puff myself out and persevere! Other times, I just do my favourite activity
Kindred spirits, we are!!
You can find the list of songs here. I'm not even going to bother telling you not to go look ahead of time.
Funny, even in 1998, trios or quartets of guys get together with their high voices, sing love songs, and basically trade on their good looks to make the rest of us jealous.
It must be a lucrative job!
Ok, they're not *all* good-looking, but the exception that proves the rule and all of that.
Wow, there's a lot of water in this video. Excuse me while I go use the bathroom.
Swimming angels? And why are they out in the middle of the ocean on that platform, all by themselves (except for the beautiful woman, anyway). Were they exiled for extreme lameness? I would have done that, if I were the judge.
This isn't a bad song, it's just more of the same that we've heard from this type of group before. It's pretty ordinary, and does nothing to move me.
Well, it moves me to do *something*, but I won't say because this is a clean blog post.
2) Alana Davis: "32 Flavors" (#37)
What does it say when your only "hit" (if barely scratching onto the list at #37 is a "hit") is a cover of an Ani DiFranco song? I don't know, but it says something.
I hope 1998 doesn't totally turn out to be like this: a year of total blandness, because these two songs are a great start to that! Again, there's nothing egregiously bad about the song or the video, but it just sits there lying on the carpet like a dog that nobody seems to care about (and the dog likes it that way).
I swear it's blander than this:
Though if you add a little sauce to it, it will probably be quite good!
3) Uncle Sam: "I Don't Ever Want to See You Again" (#6)
Wow, number 6 and I have never heard the song before. Woohoo!
Ah, yes. The age-old story of a woman sleeping with her man's best friend. But has she fallen in love with him? Doesn't matter. It's the rule of guys. She's out, and so is the best friend.
Ok, maybe just the rule of life, too.
The guy is seriously pissed off, and I don't blame him! So pissed off, in fact, that he can't stop talking about it. Five and a half minutes???? Even I'm getting a bit tired of his whining.
I do love the public comeuppance, though! She got what she deserved.
I love it. The song? Eh, it's ok. Just way too long.
Wow, two songs that are very similar (in sound, if not in content) in a row! I'm sensing a 1998 trend. In fact, it's an Old School trend!
See what I did there? Yeah?
Yeah, it wasn't very good.
Anyway, this song is seriously putting me to sleep. It's times like this that I think I shouldn't write these posts on Sunday mornings. I'm already half-asleep! If you couldn't tell from the lame jokes, now you know.
Isn't it bad when you go to a gentleman's club (that's one of the classier ones I've seen, actually, he says like he's an expert or something) and then out comes your girlfriend onto the stage? Or I assume that's what happened, considering their reaction.
Brings new meaning to the "Am I Dreaming" song title, though!
This song seriously needs a beat or something, because it just kind of lays there otherwise. It's a nice ensemble piece, but that's about it.
And you know you haven't hit it big when your Wikipedia entry is more barren than Ron Jeremy's moral code.
Hey, she has the same hairstyle as that Nu Flavors chick!
This is actually a pretty good song. Myers' voice has kind of a haunting quality to it that's just sucking me in. The video also does a good job of that, portraying a damaged woman who seems to be one Fruit Loop short of a cereal box, messed up over a guy (isn't that always the way?).
Combine the two, and you've got a song that hit #15, and a very good song at that. First one of the year!
I honestly don't know what to say about this song. It's kind of fun, but it's baaaaaaaaaaaaaaad.
Yeah, kind of like that.
7) Ben Folds Five: "Brick" (#19)
(Yay, Vevo!) I'm saying that a lot today, aren't I?
Nice piano opening.
Y'know, if this guy showed any less emotion, they'd be checking his pulse. You're "feeling more alone than I ever have before?" Maybe it's because she doesn't think you're alive at all?
Just a thought.
Is he saying that she's dragging him down? Maybe it's you, loser.
Anyway, I actually like this song, or the music at least. The words and the singing?
Well, you know what mama always said about not being able to say something nice.
Ok, this song should suck, but for some reason I can't say that it does. It's not superficial either. I just can't stop my foot from tapping and my brain from enjoying the song. Maybe because it speaks to something that I never really did in my prime: club-hopping and scoping out the dance floor.
Or maybe it's just good in relation to everything else today?
That could be it.
A song that doesn't make me want to poke my eardrums out? What a change!!
And there you have it. The introduction to 1998, apparently the year of "hey, that's...not too bad, really, if you want to settle for that."
Really, it's on the placard. Right next to "We try so hard not to suck that we don't do anything else good either."
It's a busy placard.
Hopefully subsequent weeks will be a little more lively. I have enough trouble doing jokes with *good* material, much less uninteresting crap.
Now I'm off to start my day. My last day of vacation.
But don't feel sorry for me. Feel sorry for this guy.
Yes, I know this announcement is a few days old, but I've been immersing myself in it so that I can comment on it, rather than just announcing it.
As of Wednesday, Netflix is now available in Canada, but only for streaming video. They will not be offering the "mailing you DVDs that you have to mail back" option up here. And really, with the way streaming video works nowadays, how many people will really mind that?
For $7.99/month (a dollar cheaper than in the US, and even cheaper still considering the Canadian dollar still isn't quite up to par with the US dollar), you have unlimited streaming access to the entire Netflix library on your PC, iPhone/iPad, PS3, Wii and eventually Xbox 360 (I'm assuming that will be after the Fall Xbox Live Dashboard update, but that's just a guess), as well as wireless-capable televisions.
Even better is that you get a free month to try out the service to see if it's something that you're interested in. I'm not sure if that's an introductory offer because of the Canadian launch, or if it will always be that way (Zip.ca has an introductory offer as well, so it may very well be permanent), but if you're Canadian and you just *might* be interested, now is the time to try it out. That offer may not last. We signed up Wednesday night, even though we generally don't watch that many movies or TV shows, just to see what it offered and whether we would be interested in it. So far, so good.
I've watched a couple of episodes from Season 1 of the BBC Robin Hood series, as well as started In the Name of the King: a Dungeon Siege Tale. Yes, I said "started," as I haven't been able to finish it yet. (And it's a *really* bad movie, but kinda/sorta in an enjoyable way)
But that's the cool thing about streaming. If you go back to a movie or show that you started watching, it will allow you to resume where you left off. You don't have to try and remember where you were at.
I realize this is probably old-hat to all of you American Netflix users, but it's very cool that they finally made it up here. Will this threaten Zip, the Canadian Netflix equivalent, that started doing the "by mail" DVD distribution method up here after Netflix pioneered it? Zip has supposedly announced they'll be offering streaming service soon as well. Zip's current price of $10.95/month for 1 DVD out at a time (higher cost for more DVDs) will have to change to compete with Netflix once Zip goes online.
It will be interesting to see.
Of course, the Canadian Netflix launch didn't go off without some hitches.
It closed down part of John St. in downtown Toronto and attracted a crowd to the launch event, but neglected to say that many of those in the crowd were actors paid to be there.
An information sheet handed out to the paid extras said: “Extras are to look really excited, particularly if asked by media to do any interviews about the prospect of Netflix in Canada.”
After word of the ruse spread on Twitter, Netflix apologized and said the extras should not have been talking to reporters.
A spokesman for Netflix said the handout for extras was required to obtain a film permit for the launch. The instruction sheet referred to Wednesday’s event as a “corporate documentary.”
“I was unaware that script was handed out to extras and that was not supposed to happen,” said Steve Swasey, vice president of corporate communications for Netflix. “Some people got carried away and it’s embarrassing to Netflix.”
Another thing to be cautious of. Many Canadian ISPs have download limits, which will incur charges if you exceed them (we pay for having a greatly increased download allowance for Shaw). You should definitely watch out for that.
"Hastings said a good ballpark figure is one hour of video equals 1 gigabyte."
Judging by our use of it so far, I have a feeling we will remain Netflix customers, though only time will tell.
During my recent trip to Iowa, there was a hilarious incident that I feel I must share.
The wife and I were at a local shopping centre, and she wanted to look at some clothes. There was a video game store just a few stores down, so rather than hover over her while she looked, I decided to head down there just to see what was happening and to browse around.
After telling the two guys there that no, I'm from Canada, so pre-ordering Halo: Reach there would be counter-productive, they left me alone. I was just looking at all the titles they had, seeing if there was anything I wanted to pick up, when a young kid (maybe 12?) came in with an old woman; obviously, Grandma was taking the kid video game shopping!
I was the only other person in the store, so I listened a bit while the two guys (obviously bored, so happy to try and sell something to anybody) talked to the new customers. They talked for a bit about other game suggestions, and then the kid blurted out "What about Mafia 2?" My ears perked up and I listened more intently.
Now, for those of you who don't know, Mafia 2 is an M-rated game about the Mob in the 1950s. There's lots of swearing and bloody violence in it. I'm not sure if there's nudity in the actual game, but one of the collectibles is 50 Playboy magazines from that era, complete with centerfold.
To the guys' credit, they did warn the customers about that, in detail (mentioning everything, including the Playboys). There are no ERSB (Entertainment Software Ratings Board, the organization that rates games so that parents know what's in them) issues because Grandma's there, of course. While they weren't actively discouraging the kid, they were pointing out everything that could be potentially harmful so that Grandma could make an informed decision. (This included me chiming in and showing my ignorance of 1950s Playboys, when I said that you don't necessarily see everything, and one of the guys said that no, some of them you do actually see everything...see how innocent I am?)
Anyway, they talked about having seen the demo for the game (which includes 5 of the Playboys, actually), and Grandma asked where the kid had seen that. He said over at a friend's house (great friend!) as it's available for download on Xbox Live.
The following sentences (paraphrased, because they are from memory) actually came out of Grandma's mouth during the decision-making process.
"He's probably heard and seen it all before."
"Maybe your dad can play it with you." (or maybe it was "before you," as in he can check it out, I can't remember)
"Don't tell your mother." (to which the kid replied "I'll play it at your house!")
This, of course, kind of contradicts the "don't tell your mother" comment, unless she expects Dad to keep it secret too.
Grandma happily bought the game for her grandson and they walked out the door. She was very uncertain the entire time (or seemed to be, anyway), but ultimately she decided to do it.
After they left, the three of us just burst out laughing, with one of the guy's saying "I wish I had a grandma like that!"
To be honest, I was quite shocked. Granted, it was a different age (I am 40 now!), but not only would neither of my grandmas even have considered buying me this game at that age, they would probably have been actively disappointed if they discovered that I was playing it after having got it through some other means.
After leaving the store and meeting up with the wife, I told her the story, and we had a laugh. It is funny.
I've got two new books to recommend to you today. Reviews for them have just posted to Curled Up With a Good Book.
One is a history book, a World War II book. The other is another modern day thriller from Lisa Gardener. Both of them are excellent books.
The first is War Stories of the Battle of the Bulge, edited by Michael Green and James D. Brown. This is the story of the Battle of the Bulge, as told by those who lived it. The editors took entries from the Bulge Bugle (the newsletter of the organization of Bulge veterans) as well as personal stories from soldiers who responded to their request (also put in that newsletter).
Some of the stories show a lighter side to the horrors of war, while others show the devastation, surprise, and valor of these men. All of them are interesting.
From the review:
"Most of the stories are told in a straightforward, easy-to-read fashion, however. What’s more, they’re interesting because they suck you in to the frozen wastes of 1944 Belgium, either feeling the horror of your fellow soldiers being overrun or maybe some funny little incident that makes you smile even as you’re reading some other terrible story. The entries that mention the German massacre of American soldiers at Malmedy are especially harsh, as there are no charitable feelings toward the Germans after that point."
A great book for those who like to read about World War II.
The second one is Live to Tell, another thriller by Lisa Gardener. I had lukewarm feelings toward her last book, The Neighbor, but I had a good feeling about this book for some reason.
This one is the story of family annihilations and kids who are mentally unstable, a really sad topic, actually.
Boston detective D.D. Warren returns, and this time she's not as much of a cipher as she was in the previous book. Of course, the added dimension is that she's extremely sexually frustrated, but I guess that's a dimension at least!
From the review:
"Danielle is the survivor of a mass murder in which her entire family was killed by her father. She has no idea why, but he shot himself in her bedroom doorway rather than kill her as well. Racked with survivor’s guilt, she works as a nurse in a care facility for mentally ill children. Victoria is the mother of a troubled child prone to fits of violent rage, a boy who has sworn to kill her at some point, yet she won’t abandon him, even if her husband has taken their daughter because Victoria refuses to institutionalize the boy. D.D. Warren is a Boston homicide detective tasked with solving one, and then two, family annihilations, where it looks like the father massacred the family before killing himself. How do these three stories tie together? Whatever the answer, it could result in an even more brutal murder."
Gardener excels at telling the rest of the story, and the climax itself is riveting.
Check out the reviews, and let me know what you think!
Hello, dear reader. I have a favour to ask you. The original post begins after all of the asterisks, if you want to skip this.
Now that the One Hit Wonders of the 90s series is over, I'm not going to be doing my weekly revisiting of all these posts (I had to do that to add the new post to the bottom). Thus, I won't be able to catch any broken picture links or deleted videos any more. Yet I want these posts to be as good as possible.
Please, if you happen upon one of these posts, or if you take a walk through a whole bunch of them, let me know if you find anything that doesn't work. You can leave a comment, or you can send me a message using that handy "Contact Me" page linked above.
Also, feel free to let me know what you think of the post or any of the videos!
Thank you.
**************************
I hope you enjoyed last week's post from my past self. Imagine my surprise (and horror) to find that, when I reached the future I had been talking about, it really wasn't any different than what I was experiencing then. Hell, there weren't any rocket packs or air cars! I couldn't believe that so little had changed in such a long time.
I mean, people still care about what Paris Hilton does. What's up with that?
Anyway, with the NFL football season starting up, things are going to be a bit hectic on Sundays from now on. I'm hoping that there will be no disruption in the regular programming, but I just thought I would warn you in advance. We've got NFL Sunday Ticket, so I get to watch my Steelers play every week! Yes, even on a Bye week, because they are just that good. In crisp, clear High-Definition too! What could be better?
Ok, yeah, Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream might be, but other than that?
Oh, and just as an aside. If you watch Larry King Live on CNN, don't watch it in HD. His wrinkles have wrinkles!!!
With all that taken care of, it's time for the usual nonsense that passes for the slight bit of intelligence shown on this blog. Namely, the weekly one-hit wonders post! That grab bag of bad music, bad puns, bad jokes, and bad moods. And if they are that bad, why do I do this every week?
Because I'm bad. That's why.
As usual, you can find the list I'm taking these from here, but don't get ahead of me! I don't want to be in the line of fire if you have any gaseous incidents.
Here we go! 1) Imani Coppola: "Legend of a Cowgirl" (#36)
Ok, I have absolutely no memory of this song.
That's not totally a bad thing, as it gives me a massive feeling of "eh."
I do like the video, though. Who hasn't been working some boring job and fantasized about being hauled up from the ground by a pack of silver-painted, Speedo-clad men?
I know I do it every day.
And then she starts to have a seizure!
What? Oh, that's dancing? What is this "dancing" thing you talk about? I see no evidence of it here.
Actually, the song kind of grew on me as it went on, but I think that might be mainly from the beat, which was largely sampled from a previous, "good" song.
Wow, there's a lot of semi-nudity in this video, isn't there? Funnily enough, I'm not intrigued.
Anyway, it's hard to imagine Fiona Apple as a one-hit wonder, because I seem to remember she was all the rage back in the late 90s. However, she has only had a few hits on the "Modern Rock" chart and this is her only basic Top 40 hit. In fact, one of her later albums charted at #7, though no songs actually hit the charts.
Colour me mystified.
But anyway, this song is ok, but the video was really controversial when it came out. You can probably guess why. She famously said "I decided if I was going to be exploited, then I would do the exploiting myself"
She did a good job of that!
3) Something for the People: "My Love is the Shhh!" (#4)
I must have stopped listening to pop music by this time, because this thing reached #4 and I never heard it!
How annoying does it have to be, to call a phone sex hotline and get a song about love instead? C'mon, ladies! It's this guy's $3.99/minute that you're wasting! Sure, you've got good voices, but somehow, I don't think that's why he called.
Maybe it's just me, though.
This is actually a pretty good song, though. I can see why it went so high in the charts.
I'm confused. What does "Girl, you'll never find another 'uh' as good as this?" Because, you know, I'm such an innocent soul that I couldn't think of anything that could mean.
And I notice the women are saying "love" there. Social comment on the different priorities of the sexes?
You make the call.
Note: As an ad on the side of this video on Youtube, there was the trailer for the new movie, Devil, from M. Night Shyamalan.
He just had a movie out this summer. Don't tell me they're giving him free rein to put out two bad movies a year now!
Now this song I remember! Who could have missed this, if you were paying any attention whatsoever to pop music?
I remember really liking it, and then getting so sick of it that I wanted to hurt something.
But I got better.
Did they just get away with saying "Pissing the night away" on national radio stations? Good for them!
This British band was pretty big in the UK, but for some reason this song made it over here too. Now that I'm removed from the massive over-exposure of this song, it's actually kind of cool again.
Then again, it did make Rolling Stone's (rag!) "Top 20 Most Annoying Songs" list, so I see I'm not alone!
I love this from their Wikipedia entry:
"Chumbawamba gained some notoriety when, provoked by the Labour government's refusal to support the Liverpool Dockworkers Strike, they performed "Tubthumping" at the 1998 BRIT Awards with the lyric changed to include "New Labour sold out the dockers, just like they'll sell out the rest of us", and vocalist Danbert Nobacon later poured a jug of water over UK Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott, who was in the audience.
A few weeks later Nutter appeared on the American political talk show Politically Incorrect and advised fans of their music who could not afford to buy their CDs to steal them from large chains such as HMV and Virgin, which prompted Virgin to remove the album from the shelves and start selling it from behind the counter."
What weird video effects!!! And then audio ones too! And then back to video effects!
What? That's real muscled and toned skin? Sorry, my mistake.
I love it when a song is subtle. But I think this one is too subtle, as I can't figure it out whatsoever.
That being said, I actually kind of like this song. And I have no memory of it, which is another Top 10 hit where this is the case. I guess my move away from pop music was almost complete by this time. I had totally turned my back on it.
Ok, my back isn't quite that cute, but you get the picture.
Ok, I vaguely remember this song, so maybe I wasn't totally ignoring it.
Did hotel rooms still have black & white TVs in 1997? That's just so weird.
You don't hear the word "manipulations" in enough songs anymore.
I actually really enjoy this song. It's got a pretty good beat and the singing isn't too bad. He sounds vaguely British though Tonic is an American band.
Anyway, chalk this up as a win for me! It's a nice way to lead into the end of 1997. A normal song, with normal singing, normal music, and the normal narcoleptic falling asleep listening to it.
7) She Moves: "Breaking All the Rules" (#32)
(sorry for the video quality. The only one I could find that I could embed)
Ok, I lied. What a bad way to end 1997. This song just doesn't do it for me. It's kind of silly, the video's even sillier. Yeah, the women are hot, but that doesn't help when you're not watching the video!
This song doesn't break any girl-group stereotypes at all, and it sounds like something from the 80s, actually. Something really bad from the 80s.
And it even features horrible dancing!
Seriously, three hot women want in a club and the bouncer wants to kick them out? What's up with that? (Yes, I realize I'm saying that a lot today, but it's a truly mystifying day).
And to top it off, dancing on toilets!!!!
The apocalypse has officially happened.
So we end 1997, not with a bang, but with a whimper. We only have two years left in this magnum opus of a blog series! Think I can keep it up until the end?
1997 was a good year. I made my move to Seattle, on the road to marriage and emigrating to Canada. What was the popular reaction to this move?
But it worked out very well for me. It was a life-changing year.
Too bad the music didn't keep up with it.
Anyway, I'm off to watch some NFL action! It's time to start my day.
During our recent trip home, I bought two games: Prototype (which I haven't played yet) and a game that I've been playing almost non-stop since we got home, Blood Bowl.
Obviously, this post is about Blood Bowl because I haven't even played the first one yet! Oh, yeah, and there's that whole "blog post title" thing too.
Blood Bowl is a video game based on the long-running board game of the same name. I used to play it with a friend of mine back in grade school or junior high, so you know how long it's been around!
It's set in Games Workshop's Warhammer universe, but this is a game of football, not role-playing fantasy battles or anything like that. And when I say football, I don't just mean the football you're all familiar with (though there are a couple of elements that are the same).
No, I'm talking about no holds barred, smashmouth football where a team will do anything to get into the end zone. And I do mean anything.
It is called "Blood" Bowl, you know. Basically, you have a team of various races (dwarves, elves, goblins, orcs, Chaos warriors, rat-man-like Skaven, etc), and you're trying to get the pig's bladder (that's in the shape of a spiked ball) through the other team and into the end zone.
One team kicks off to the other, and then tries to defend their goal. There are Linemen, Blitzers, Throwers and Catchers on the team (some other races' teams have a few different kinds as well). You can also have big creatures like an ogre or troll on your team too.
Blood Bowl is a violent sport, however. You're trying to knock the other team's players down to give you a clear path to the end zone, and if you happen to gouge out an eye (forcing the player to miss the next game) or break an ankle, oh well! Oh, and don't forget that you can kick the other player while he's down, causing further injury. But be careful if you haven't bribed the ref! You might get sent off the field.
The original board game was turn-based, with each game having 16 turns (8 turns comes up to halftime, where the players switch sides and kick off again, just like real football). The video game adds a real-time mode, but I haven't tried that yet. To me, Blood Bowl is turn-based, so I have no interest in trying that one.
Each player can move a certain number of squares, and each player also has a "tackle zone" that consists of every square around him/her. If somebody tries to leave your tackle zone, even just to go to another square in your zone, they have to make an agility check or be knocked down, ending your turn.
I'm having a blast playing my Asgard Assholes human team (the name just seemed to fit the atmosphere of Blood Bowl) in a campaign to reach the ultimate competition! The Blood Bowl itself. I'm playing in various tournaments to try and build up my prestige as the season goes on.
So how is the video game adaptation of this game? It's actually pretty good, though there's no way I would have paid $60-70 for this (I bought it for $20, as it's an older game). The graphics are decent, though I do wish there was a bit more variety in the various fields. I also wish there were more varied touchdown celebrations. Each race has its own, but it would be nice to see more within each race.
Don't get me started on the "announcers," though. They don't really comment on the game too much, and when they do it's pretty generic. They're also very hard to hear, though I suppose I could explore turning down the game noise to hear them better. That being said, I generally just turn my TV's volume down as the sound effects are pretty basic too. Finally, the music outside of the game itself, when you're looking at your roster or hiring other players, is repetitive to the point of madness.
Then again, maybe Blood Bowl is an agent of Chaos and that's what it's supposed to do!
The presentation is fairly lackluster, though you can track your individual players' stats, as far as knockouts, casualties caused, casualties sustained, etc. You can also keep track of your team's stats.
The names of your players are pretty generic too, though there has been a bit more variety as time's gone on. I went ahead and renamed them all myself, as I had Akhim the Fool and Akhim the Gifted on my team. I was getting confused. (no, not really, but it was boring).
I will also admit that the tutorials are terrible. If you have no familiarity with the game itself, then they certainly won't help you. It even took some time for me to get the hang of things.
However, what the game does do is bring back my memories of the board game. The game itself is still being played, and maybe current players will find the video game lacking (it certainly got lukewarm reviews, though I don't know if any of the reviewers had played the board game before). However, for somebody who hasn't played it in years, this video game is a shot in the arm.
Who cares what the pundits think? I paid my $20, and I'm having the time of my life.
Yesterday was quite the interesting experience trying to get home from our 8-day trip for my parents' 50th anniversary celebration. I was beginning to wonder if it would ever end!
It started with a late-night drive from Davenport to O'Hare airport because our flight was leaving early in the morning. Thankfully, we found a Fox News simulcast on the Sirius radio that was in the rental car, so we were able to listen to some of the stuff that we watch anyway. It was *really* weird to hear Red Eye instead of just seeing it. A lot of the jokes are visual, so we missed some of them (thankfully, we were recording them all at home, so we watched it last night).
After getting to the airport, we had a long wait. And without Internet access for our phones! Why is it that a smaller airport like Seattle (and yes, "smaller" is just relative) has free wi-fi access for everybody, but O'Hare, the busiest airport in the world (or one of them anyway) only has wi-fi access for those who have Boingo?
Is that annoying or what?
But we got by. Good thing we had some games on our phone. We were too tired to read, really. We tried to upgrade again because the flight to Chicago was *so* wonderful, but there was only one spot available. Neither one of us would take it without the other, so Coach it was! I must say that, while it certainly wasn't a *comfortable* flight, Alaska certainly has the most leg room in Coach of the three airlines I've flown (American and Delta are the other ones). For the first time in a long time, my knee didn't start hurting half-way through the flight.
I slept most of the flight, though I wouldn't call it a "good" sleep. We got into Seattle on time, and we had another 90 minute wait for our Quick Shuttle bus. But at least we had Internet! (Booooo, Chicago!)
Needless to say, we were feeling pretty tired at this point, though I was starting to get a second wind. We had lunch and sat down at a table to wait, checking in with people online, until the bus began loading just after 12:00.
And that's when it got *really* interesting.
First of all, I love Quick Shuttle. I even gave them a rave review on Epinions. This time, we had a different guy than all of the other times I've used the service. I don't know if he's new or if the schedules just changed, but he seems to be a regular for this route now. He was also our driver on the way down to Seattle.
And he is terrible.
I'm sorry to say that this was the worst Quick Shuttle experience I've ever had. I know driving a bus isn't easy, and there will be some jerky movements and rough driving. But this guy took it to a whole new level. It was making the wife a bit nauseous. He sped up to stop lights and then braked hard; he was all over the road (not in a drunken way, but just in a bad driver way). He was nice enough, so I certainly didn't have any problem with his attitude. But his driving stunk!
That was all fine and we were just happy to hit the border and be on our way home (the quickest border crossing I've ever had in a bus), but that's when it got really weird.
We get into the city (you can have Quick Shuttle stop at any major hotel in the downtown area, and we have one right down the street). While you have to maneuver the one-ways correctly in order to pull up right in front of the hotel, in the past the driver has just asked me if I minded getting off across the street. I had no problem with that because it's still very convenient. Or, last time, he pulled up on the side of the hotel, which is actually even closer to our building than in front.
This guy turned the corner and just kept going, even though we could have gotten off across the street. Fine, no big deal. He stops at one hotel and lets everybody but us and another old couple off. Turns out we're going to the same place.
Cool! We're almost off this hell-ride of a bus!
But it was not to be. Instead of going straight (let us off at the side) or turning right (let us off across the street), he turns left! We thought he was going to drop us off right there on the corner, but no! No, he drives all the way down to Davie Street, and then goes driving through some of the narrowest streets of the West End I've ever seen. There's no good reason a huge bus should be going there!
We heard one thing that sounded like a dog being run over, but I think it was just the gears on the bus. He was trying desperately to maneuver through these streets, just to pull up in front of the hotel, come hell or high water!
After another scary 10 minutes, he finally pulls up in front of the hotel. I guess he didn't want the old people to have to walk far with their suitcases (the doorman met us), and I guess I can see that. But you really should know how to get around the city if you're going to drive a bus!
He just looked lost. And since he was a bad driver anyway, that made all of the extra driving even worse.
But we made it! I've never been so glad to be off of a bus in my life.
We spent the evening unpacking and decompressing. And hit the sack early.
I still recommend Quick Shuttle, but if I get this guy again next time, I may just walk to Seattle.
Hello, dear reader. I have a favour to ask you. The original post begins after all of the asterisks, if you want to skip this.
Now that the One Hit Wonders of the 90s series is over, I'm not going to be doing my weekly revisiting of all these posts (I had to do that to add the new post to the bottom). Thus, I won't be able to catch any broken picture links or deleted videos any more. Yet I want these posts to be as good as possible.
Please, if you happen upon one of these posts, or if you take a walk through a whole bunch of them, let me know if you find anything that doesn't work. You can leave a comment, or you can send me a message using that handy "Contact Me" page linked above.
Also, feel free to let me know what you think of the post or any of the videos!
Thank you.
**************************
Can you hear me? Can you hear me now?
No, I don't work for Verizon. I just want to make sure that everybody can hear me, because this is a technical feat that's never been tried before.
This is a special edition of the One Hit Wonders of the 90s, because it's coming to you from...the past!
As I sit here writing this, I have to wonder what the world will be like when it finally gets posted. Will there be flying cars?
What about fancy computers and robots that can run trillions of calculations at once, until they go mad and wreak havoc! Until some courageous (and potentially unhinged) human being asks them to solve some logical conundrum?
Will we have solved our oil problems by creating vehicles that run on hot air?
Yes, I think about the future as I write this, and wonder whether anyone will be around to see what I'm saying. It's like a message in a bottle, with the hope that someday, in some way, somebody will read this.
And hopefully more than usually do.
Yes, it's a future edition of one-hit wonders of the 90s! Where the past meets the future in something similar to the present, or maybe the past perfect (or perfect past?) and the future imperfect?
Ok, now I'm confused.
But you won't be, after the next episode of Soa...I mean the One Hit Wonders of the 90s!
As usual, you can find the list where I'm taking these from here. I won't bother to tell you not to look them up ahead of time, partially because I know you won't listen, and partially because I've used up my allotment of stupid pictures.
Here we go! 1) Rampage (featuring Billy Lawrence): "Take it to the Streets" (#34)
Gee, another week starts like this...
Owwww....my brain hurts.
Please, make it stop!
I swear, I will do it!!!
You know what to do.
2)Sister Hazel: "All For You" (#11)
Oh, now I remember this song! Yeah, this isn't really the original version of the song, but it gives you a good feel for it.
And I remember liking this song, then hating it for hearing it so much, and then liking it again. Kind of.
In a way.
Now that I've been away from the song for a while, it's like a breath of fresh air!
Of course, it's even more fresh air when the audience is doing most of the singing. What talent! Sign them to a contract. I'll be their agent.
But I want a cut of all their money.
3) Mr. President: "Coco Jamboo" (#21)
(trying desperately not to make any kind of obvious joke...)
Wow, that's some nice scenery, isn't it? It's also interesting, the sound they used. This is a German band, but this song was an attempt to use a more exotic sound, with some reggae influence (gee, I don't know how you could tell). I wonder if they went down to the islands to film the video? I don't recall too many German beaches looking like that.
Ha! Yeah, I "don't recall." Trying to pretend like I've been there or something. Research? What's that? I think that's Greek, isn't it?
Hey, a remake of "Electric Avenue!" A one-hit wonder remake of a one-hit wonder! There's something...ummmm...ironic? No, that's not it. Well, there's just something weird about it.
Especially because it's not really a remake of it, but it's more than just sampling. It's a weird fusion that I have to say is making me sad.
Somehow, I don't think that's the effect it's going for. Let me go to my happy place instead.
Ah, there we go.
5) Peach Union: "On My Own" (#39)
You mean this isn't a remake of the song from Les Miserables? I'm crushed.
I think there's something seriously wrong with the colour in this world.
Wow, she really cleans up well, don't she? Let me guess: she's the Peach? And the other guys are the Union? And shouldn't they be playing instruments rather than sculpting green dogs?
I have to say, this sounds like a female-empowerment song, where she tells her man that she has to do this on her own (partially because he's completely ignoring her while she disrobes), but then she starts packing for a beach vacation?
Colour me confused. A faded pastel state of confusion.
6) Milestone: "I Care About You" (#23)
"This just in. A bold band of art thieves are stealing Milestone...while they're still singing! Police are baffled, as there were no fingerprints on the scene. Just a bunch of swooning women who 'didn't see anything' when they were questioned.
Round the clock coverage continues on this horrible story, including interviews with their manager, their mothers, and the janitors who cleaned their studio after they finished recording their song.
We'll bring you more when we have it. Or...even if we don't have it."
7) The Mighty Mighty Bosstones: "The Impression That I Get" (#23)
Wow, isn't this a great song? It rocks, it's got some funky retro imagery, some great horns and sax. What could be better?
Ok, well, that just goes without saying. But OTHER than that?
Awwww...I love the hugs at the end. Do they do that after every song?
That's so sweet.
I almost broke my chair rocking so hard to this song. What a nice way to end the week!!!
So there you have it. I am waving to you now from the past, in the hopes that whatever generation is actually reading this, civilization hasn't crumbled around us.
Then again, if it can withstand most of these songs, then it can withstand anything.
So, while I sit here, tied to the primitive things that amuse people in my time period, like TV and Internet, you can take off in your jet pack and visit other worlds!
At least if they're about 2 feet off the ground.
Note: This is being posted on the day after my parents' 50th anniversary party, hence why it's getting written in the past. Thank God for Blogger scheduling! I'm sure the party was a blast, and happy anniversary to you both!
It's a glorious start to a vacation when your bus is 15 minutes late...at 4:30 in the morning.
But so far, our trip hasn't been too bad other than that. This is the first time the wife has come on this type of trip with me (we usually drive when we both go), so she has been able to see what I do 2 other times a year.
So of course the bus driver drove hideously. Thankfully, the border was easy, and we only had one other stop (there were no stops in Bellingham and at the Outlet Mall today), so it was fairly quick, too.
Check-in was easy and we've now been fed and watered. Such an early morning means sleep is needed, and what better place than at your gate when you're there 2 hours early!
(yes, I'm writing this while asleep. Can't you tell?)
We do have a lovely view, though.
But we upgraded, so we will fly in comfort!
Only 90 minutes to go. Back to Twitter for me! Thank God for wi-fi.
Hello, dear reader. I have a favour to ask you. The original post begins after all of the asterisks, if you want to skip this.
Now that the One Hit Wonders of the 90s series is over, I'm not going to be doing my weekly revisiting of all these posts (I had to do that to add the new post to the bottom). Thus, I won't be able to catch any broken picture links or deleted videos any more. Yet I want these posts to be as good as possible.
Please, if you happen upon one of these posts, or if you take a walk through a whole bunch of them, let me know if you find anything that doesn't work. You can leave a comment, or you can send me a message using that handy "Contact Me" page linked above.
Also, feel free to let me know what you think of the post or any of the videos!
Thank you.
**************************
Sometimes, I have no idea what to write in this space. Sometimes I'm not sure if I'm going to be able to write anything at all. Maybe I should just close up shop and move on?
Some would say I should definitely go with that idea.
But it's these times of indecision, my trying to decide just what my readers might want to read (and that's what readers do, you know...read), that I go to my agent and just bounce ideas off of him.
What? You didn't know bloggers could have agents? Of course we can! How do you think we get those pennies that we make!
Anyway, I bounce ideas off of him, but I'm not sure if he's ever *really* helpful.
After that, I come back and just write crap like these one-hit wonders posts.
*whispering from off-stage*
What? Oh, ahem. Sorry. These *wonderful* one-hit wonders posts.
Welcome to this week's edition of the one-hit wonders of the 90s!!! That weekly series where I look at the one hit wonders of the 90s (gee, I think I should make the title a little less obscure) and laugh at them. Or laugh at myself laughing at them. Or laugh at my laughing at myself laughing at them.
Or something like that.
Due to travel, this week's edition is coming out on Saturday rather than Sunday. But don't worry! Even though it's on the wrong day, it will still be bad.
As usual, you can find the list of songs here. But don't worry if you mistakenly click on that link before I'm done. I'm very calm, cool and collected about that, since I've been seeing my therapist.
And here we go! 1) Bob Carlisle: "Butterfly Kisses" (#10)
The country version of this song actually went to #10 on the Pop chart. You can tell it's the country version because of that weird, steel guitar twang in the melody. Oh, and the fact that the title of the video says "(Country Version)", but where's the fun in that?
This is a pretty song, an ode to a daughter. It's very sweet. Almost a tear-jerker. *wipes eyes*
What?
It's also LONG. I think she grew up while he was singing the song!
2) Le Click: "Call Me" (#35)
I was hoping this wasn't a remake of the Blondie song. Glad to see it isn't.
But it is dance music! Whew! Feel that beat!!! Why do I think they're talking at cross purposes? Two different definitions of "down?" That's the feeling I get. What a lout that guy is...
How could he be cheating on her with that house? What a gorgeous house!
No, I'm not materialistic or anything. Why do you ask?
Oh, for Christ's sake! Two country versions of this song, and they both peaked within a week of each other? And the video's basically the same, too. Come on. Some originality, folks! You should try it sometimes.
Ok, this one has *two* guys singing. Woohoo! That's changing things, isn't it? And this version's shorter for some reason. And this one, she goes off with a biker!
So there are some changes. That's good.
Ok, now I'm all verklempt. You all talk amongst yourselves for a while.
Could they even say that on the radio in the 90s? Guess so! People must have liked it, making it go up to #2. A song that says that a woman is anything and everything, unpredictable, maddening, loving, annoying, and extremely sexy, all rolled into one!
I guess it's good to reinforce that.
This song really moves, doesn't it? It peaked shortly before I made the big move from Chicago to Seattle (and ultimately up here), and I remember hearing it on the radio a lot. Wasn't sure if I liked it at the time, but 13 years removed, I actually really do.
I just wish she'd pick a state and stay there!
5) Trisha Yearwood: "How Do I Live?" (#23)
The many people who saw the Nicholas Cage movie Con Air discovered that hey, country singer Trisha Yearwood can actually sing! This was her only pop hit, as the rest of the people who liked this song went back to their "rock and roll" crap (or maybe Celine Dion showed up around this time? I don't know).
Anyway, this is a beautiful song, as is usual from Yearwood. She needs to get another movie so she can be on the pop chart again. She doesn't deserve to be considered a "one-hit wonder." Then again, she did marry Garth Brooks, so there is that...
Interesting Wikipedia factoid:
"In 1996, while flying from Nevada to New York, Trisha saved a man's life. Francesco Maccarrone, a baggage handler, was trapped in the belly of the plane. When the plane left the gate, Trisha heard pounding and screaming from under her seat and insisted the pilot stop the plane. After he emerged from the plane a shaken but relieved Francesco said, "I was a big Reba fan, but now I'm an even bigger Trisha fan."
In late August 2008, the plane Yearwood was aboard from Boston, Massachusetts to Oklahoma, made an emergency landing after one of the plane's windows cracked and nearly broke open at 30,000 feet. The pilots safely landed in Baltimore, Maryland, before the window cracked even more."
Um, maybe you shouldn't get on a plane if you notice Trisha is flying with you?
Just a thought.
6) OMC: "How Bizarre" (#4)
This song is recognizable immediately, with that opening guitar just settling into your head and starting to pound on your brain. (How rude!)
I actually liked this song the first time I heard it.
I remember liking this song when I heard it at the time. There's nothing really wrong with it even now, though it doesn't really move me that much. Ok, it takes a *lot* to move me (go get that dolly!), but it's still a pleasant song.
It pretty much just inspires an "eh" feeling, kind of like bland Chinese food.
Or maybe I'm just tired.
And there you have it! This week's early edition of the one-hit wonders of the 90s!
I hope you've enjoyed this week's edition, which was much better than last week's. I didn't feel like blowing my brains out after this one (or, even worse, listening to a William Hung CD). And when that happens, you know it's been a good week!
Stay tuned for next week's edition, where something rather interesting happens...
Well, ok, *that* happens...but there's also going to be a very special edition that I can't tell you about yet.
I've been on a thriller kick of late in my reading, with a mixture of other books. In fact, the mix I've been reading has mostly to do with what's come available from Curled Up With a Good Book (there is a list of books the editor receives from publishers that we reviewers can choose from).
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