You Are a Smart American

You know a lot about US history, and you're opinions are probably well informed. Congratulations on bucking stereotypes. Now go show some foreigners how smart Americans can be.

Are You a Dumb American?

George Takei responds to Tim Hardaway

Funny video featuring the Star Trek actor here.

Fall Out!

I rented Super Monkey Ball Banana Blitz this week because I have fond memories of Super Monkey Ball 2 on Nord's GameCube. I heard reviews that the learning curve was difficult but was better to use the Wii Remote than an analog stick. The reviewers were right on the learning curve. The first world is cake, the second mixes it up, the third starts getting difficult. By the end, it is exceedingly difficult. I don't care for it, but Book Lady seems to be having a blast. I take it she likes the puzzle challenge games. I like knowing a game has the hope of being beaten, and this one has a faint glimmer. The minigames are depressing as well. Most are hit and miss, especially the ones based on real games. The fun ones are the ones they made up. But it's not enough for me to buy it at this time. It is a good rent, though. It gives you something to work on for a week and then get sick of falling into ravines or lava. I plan on picking up Rayman Raving Rabbids this weekend. That is an example of a fun single player with outrageous multiplayer. Super Monkey Ball is good, don't get me wrong. You just have to be determined to enjoy it.

On another note, I borrowed Animal Crossing from Heidi. That's very interesting. It's a good boredom game, but it's not much to watch. It makes people watching it to start playing the Sims 2. I know it's coming out for Wii, it's just a matter of when and what it will do. I would love it if it expanded on your GameCube save game that you may or may not have made. I am afraid that I will rent it and keep getting messages from animals on my Message Board.

STOP Class

Today I had my STOP class to get rid of my citation. It started at 8 and I had a minimal breakfast of juice and water before going in and I felt fine. About an hour in, the instructor starts talking about an accident involving this woman who totaled her car into a house. She got out of the car but didn't really know that she had about a minute to live because she separated her aorta. I'm not a big fan of large quantities of blood as that is one of the things that keeps me from watching horror movies, although Carrie doesn't creep me out because it's so fake. But when I hear extended blood talk that I am unable to ignore, I feel like I become aware of my own blood which is unsettling. The way he's describing it, particularly how after the blood circulates and without an aorta, how the blood "empties into her belly" it makes me a little queasy. Even after he moved on, the images were still in my brain and it made me very woozy and I felt like I overheated and blacked out.

When my vision and hearing returns I am on the ground with very blurred vision and people asking "Are you alright?" I answer I'm fine and realize that I am in fact on the ground. At first I think it's my mind daydreaming playing a trick on me but soon that wears off. They give me my glasses which are very bent and have a drop of blood on them. They ask if I'm epileptic and I say no. I get back on my chair and check my forehead which is bleeding a little bit. I go to the bathroom to clean up and wash myself and I sit down for a few moments. I return and the instructor asks me if I'm fine or if I want to take the class at another time. I say no and I'll manage. It was just very strange to have that happen.

Apparently I looked as though I feel asleep, then fell on the floor. My eyes rolled into my head and the instructor thought I may have been having an epileptic seizure. They rolled me on my back and I came out of it. The last time I blacked out completely was around 8 years ago in church when I overheated. I also lost my vision on Christmas when I ate a really hot piece of food and it lodged itself. All the same I will probably look into it just to make sure I'm OK but I'm hoping it was just a fluke.I did get to joke about it though when he asked when the last time anyone had experienced tunnel vision and I said "About an hour ago." On a positive note, I did pass the test with a happy face and a "Good Job" meaning I missed no questions.

Doom, New Goblin, and Venom

I found a link off digg that has production art of the villans from the Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer and Spider-Man 3. Doom looks interesting and New Goblin and Venom seem to be on track with everything else we've seen.

Check it out here.

**Updated: Thank God the Doom artwork has been confirmed to be fake. The action figure basically looks the same as well so there may or may not be a redesign of the character's appearance.**

Lectures vs. Discussion

I'm taking the History of World Religions. I went in thinking it would be fun to learn about more than I know. But recently, I find it so dull. I think I've narrowed it down. He wants us to read the book and then discuss it. While that's nice and all, it's disappointing because I don't learn that way. When I read a required text, I have to try to figure out what is essential and what's going to be asked. I hate that. There's no narrative to follow or anything so I find myself bored. I prefer lectures. I know many would shoot me for that comment but I am much more attentive plus it gives me something to do in class, take notes. I learn better when I'm taught. I am still the student here. If I wanted a book to teach me, I would've paid for it alone and not pay for the class with attached instructor. I was hoping the person in there would teach me something I didn't know. I don't want to discover the text together. When I took Hickey's Military History class we had to read and discuss. I sucked at that class so bad. But now I'm in his Early National America and it's lecture based and I am enthralled with the topic. It's not that Military History is boring by any means. I just hate reading a text instead of being lectured at. I'm hoping it gets better when we get to the more mainstream religions and I know more. I would drop the class and take up something else later but I already had to choose between this and Renaissance/Reformation and I may be regretting it. Although Renaissance/Reformation has a complete ton of reading. Oh well, it all makes me excited for Greece.

DDR: Hottest Party for Wii

Some information has been released on the new DDR game for the Wii. It looks really interesting. It seems you use the GameCube pads combined with the Wiimote and Nunchuck. The pads record the arrows and there will be symbols for when to shake either the nunchuk or remote. This reminds me of the Rayman "dance" modes and is reminiscent of what they wanted you to do with the EyeToy camera with Extreme on for PS2. I hope this doesn't get too confusing but I'm excited. Plus, you can have up to 4 players at once. Something the Xbox version had on the PS2. It's going to be weird to buy DDR pads again. I haven't done that since 2003. One thing is for sure, you are going to need one large room to fit 4 pads comfortably but it's still freakin' sweet.

For more information on Dance Dance Revolution: Hottest Party, go here or here.

What Have Wii Been Doing?

I picked up Marvel: Ultimate Alliance last weekend. I've been playing that for most of last week. It's, not surprisingly, very similar to X-Men Legends, but still very fun. The Wii controls seem to accent the game rather than drive it. I periodically did a motion to attack but mainly stick to pressing A all the time. The cinematics are breathtaking though. I've unlocked all the characters without cheating so that makes me smile. Now I want to play it on Hard.

I rented Rayman Raving Rabbids this weekend. That game is so sick, twisted, and fun. Basically an army of bunnies puts Rayman through a series of minigame tasks that use the Wiimote to its potential in order to be set free. People who watch us must think we're screwed up in the head to be attacking bunnies but they are not friendly once you get into the game. I likened it to the Internet Insanity Test in the weird noises you hear as you play the game. It's very good and I will probably get it soon.

I also rented Superman Returns for the PS2. I have to say, I was quite disappointed in it. I was expecting something like Spider-Man 2 and Ultimate Spider-Man with the free-roam city and, although you have that, the game for me gets bogged down with strange controls and weird missions. It also suffers from Episode III-itis. In that game, although fun, there are many enemies with the ability to block lightsabers. It's a lightsaber! In Superman Returns, Superman's powers seem quite useless against villains. I really have to bring myself to want to play it again. There was so much potential, but it seems wasted.

I read a thing online about Mortal Kombat: Armageddon for the Wii. There's a video floating around that shows how moved will work. For example to use Scorpion's spear, you swing the remote and there it goes. Many people have complained that this takes the fun out of the game I disagree. I think it makes the game accessible to anyone. The button-mashers out there liked having the exclusivity of having to memorize a combination to make a powerful move work. Now the layman can do it. I see this a lot recently. When we play Bond on PS2, I have to step back when the others play so they have a chance because I'm too familiar on it. On the System Link for Halo, Mark and Brenner say that people don't like it when they play because they're so good, and they are. With simplified controls, the playing ground is even.

Also, Mario Kart 64 came out on Virtual Console this morning and oh, how I've missed it. I never had a Nintendo 64 because that came out during the time when my parents wouldn't pay for video games themselves. So I missed out on a lot but thanks to Virtual Console, those games are back. The game plays so wonderfully and seems to be graphically smoother than my emulated version, but that could be the emulator. I really wish they could get the license to GoldenEye 007 for the Virtual Console. The company who made it is now owned by Microsoft, plus they need the Bond license but that game would sell so well.

Silver Surfer's Packing

Apparently, I'm not sure who found this out but, in the HD version of the Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer trailer, which is a neat trailer by the way, the Surfer for a few frames appears to be anatomically correct. Throughout the trailer, he's a Ken doll but somewhere after the 1:00 mark the Surfer flies by and I guess the animators wanted to have a little fun. I highly doubt that we will see this in the final film, it isn't Hollow Man. I'm just wondering when the trailer will be replaced. And please, no "rise" of the Silver Surfer jokes.

You can see the nads here.

Wii First-Person Shooters

I found another article off digg I want to talk about. This one talks about how the first person shooters on the Wii are difficult to control and suggest ways for the developers to fix this before they lose sales. I have Call of Duty 3 and I admit, it was not fun to play at first. I aimed the Wiimote at the screen directly and noticed how if you look in any direction that wasn't the center, the camera would zoom off in that direction. It wasn't fun holding the controller at the screen in an unnatural position for so long. Try holding a remote control at a TV for 30-60 minutes. I played a couple of missions and my hand cramped up and hurt the next day. Even though it was difficult to control, I surprisingly enjoyed it.

The solution on the player side is to take the Wiimote and brace it against yourself. Have it rest on your leg or something. It's much more natural and you have greater stability over where that cross hair goes. I find myself enjoying the game so much more now that it doesn't cause me pain and anguish. I even got Steph to play it and she did the same and she enjoyed it even though it made her nervous. Whenever the Wii Zapper comes out, it might improve the stability of the unbraced hand. Holding a gun at something for an extended period is creepily more natural that doing the same action with a remote. Unfortunately, the prototype displayed found at Wikipedia doesn't seem to leave much actions for the Nunchuck, but in Call of Duty 3, most of those actions have a button duplicate. Although, it would be really cool to have four of these for some kind of future multiplayer Bond game.

On the developer side, I think they should add in a little auto-aiming. I know people don't like that because they think the computers doing all the work or something, but it would help the player control the game slightly better. It's not the same as using an analog stick to aim, you physically have to point at it. Also, it would be nice to modify the look sensitivity of the Wiimote, somewhat like you can in Halo.

I don't think that first person shooters on the Wii are doomed. Gamers are just going to have to adjust better. I had to adjust to using one analog stick to move/strafe and another to look. That seemed counter-productive to me, but I see the merits of adjusting to it.

What the Wiki?

Apparently it seems that Wikipedia is too smart for us. An article found on digg says that the content of Wikipedia is becoming too unreadable, not by idiots adding whatever comments Stephen Colbert tells them to put on the elephant page, but by the language and vocabulary used on the site. The writer of the article says that the George Washington page's introduction qualifies as post-graduate level writing. See, I don't get this. I can understand it, not trying to sound like I'm a post-graduate or anything, but I would guess it's because Wikipedia is trying to be more of a source in its academic affairs. Although, if you were to start a question in Dr. Hickey's class with, "According to Wikipedia..." you wouldn't get very far in the credibility scales. That fact that anyone can edit it is unique, but it is truth by consensus. The people on digg also pointed out a Simple English Wikipedia that dumbs it down even further into short sentences and words. Seriously, on the front page it says "Agriculture (growing crops)" in reference to the entire "field" of agriculture. Obviously! Nice for the 4th grader, but what is happening to our society? Reading used to be a privilege reserved for the elite and now it seems that books are greatly ignored or dumbed down. I mean, honestly, one of the the top selling books for children and adults is Harry Potter, a book written for children! I'm not saying it's bad but our adults are reading youth novels. Of course, I read comic books so I'm really no better, but the fact remains, if people don't have to read, they won't. And when they do read something, like Wikipedia, it's too complex for some to understand. I'm glad I'm not going into English Education because they have a lot of work ahead of them to turn future adults into active readers.

You Passed High School with an A+

You have the brains of a high school graduate... at least!

Could You Pass High School?

Of all places, Pamida

I went over to Pamida today to pick up tissues and Tylenol and I walked over to the electronics, just to check, and they had a Wii! I picked that thing up and got my stuff and checked out. I was floored. I brought it back to Morey and showed people what I got at Pamida. I put it together and now the fun happens.

It was very disturbing going into Fremont, Omaha, Lincoln, Norfolk, and Sioux City and finding PlayStation 3's sitting on the shelves and no Wiis. Only recently I've been finding the price marking for the Wii at stores. I go everywhere and it's sitting in Wayne at Pamida. It wasn't even marked up like usual. They said they got 6 in on Friday and that was the last one that was not reserved. I'm so happy Christmas came in January.

A minor scare

I was just going through the planner the college gave us to plan on when our Sci-Fi meetings would occur and I crossed off Easter Sunday, of course, and I noticed the date. It said April 15. I get a little freaked out, not because of tax day, don't be silly, but that's the last day of WillyCon. I think to myself, "No, there's no way we would've scheduled that during Easter. That's not possible. It's gotta be wrong." So I check Wikipedia, the best source in a rush, and it says that 2007 Easter is April 8. I am so relieved. But I want it to be known that the WSC planner has Easter on the 15th, not the 8th. That's the last time I trust the college to plan my events.

New Pirates of the Caribbean Pictures

Apple TV and iPhone

Apple TV is a box that you can sync with iTunes to play music, movies, TV shows, trailers, and podcasts wirelessly from the iTunes Store. This is very interesting. I've wondered why you would buy Pirates 2 for $9.99 on iTunes just so you could watch it on a computer or the small screen on iPod. Buy the DVD. But now, you can stream it to a TV making your digital media on demand. You don't need to find the disc, it's already on your TV. It's interesting, but not portable. You can take the disc with you if you need to. You won't want to drag the box. But it does validate purchasing videos, especially movies, on the iTunes Store if you now have a way of playing it in a neat fashion. Or you could buy the iPod Universal dock kit for $99, connect it to a TV, and watch it that way but that's no fun. Price: $299

iPhone is stylistically a very neat product. The whole thing is one big touch screen. It has a very clean and spiffy interface and has a 4GB to 8GB iPod built in. Apple's site has videos that show how well the interface works. It's got full Internet browsing as well as several neat phone features. It arranges texts well and will show you your voicemail. It can play videos like iPod and will rotate on its side for widesceen ones. But at 4GB and 8GB, how many videos will it hold? Not many. You won't be watching Pirates 2 on this bad boy unless you don't want much else on there. The price is staggering at $499 and $599, making it effectively like a PlayStation 3, but it is state-of-the-art. It's also exclusively under Cingular which is good for me if I wanted it, but I wonder how long it will remain exclusive (like how the RAZR was). This is a neat product and neat to look forward to.

Keep in mind I have never seen these devices, nor actually handled them, I am only responding to the information that has been presented so far so don't go thinking I'm an expert, people. I just thought they were cool announcements and wanted to share my two cents on them.

Your results:
You are The Joker

The Joker 48% Lex Luthor 44% Venom 43% Magneto 42% Dr. Doom 31% Apocalypse 30% Poison Ivy 29% Mr. Freeze 29% Green Goblin 29% Kingpin 27% Mystique 25% Riddler 22% Two-Face 21% Catwoman 17% Dark Phoenix 15% Juggernaut 9%

The Clown Prince of Crime. You are a brilliant mastermind but are criminally insane. You love to joke around while accomplishing the task at hand.

Click here to take the "Which Super Villain are you?" quiz...

Making Up 2 Weeks in 2 Days

On Friday I went into Omaha to get some stuff taken care of before returning to Wayne. I went into Wal-Mart and picked up some medication. I went over to PhantaC and picked up some comics. I called Daniele because she wanted to get together sometime. I told her I was going to Krypton next and she was about to get in her car and drive over. So much ADD. I went over the Dragon's Lair and then Hobby Lobby to get supplies. I went to Best Buy and picked up War of the Worlds and Superman: the Movie. I then went to the other Dragon's Lair to see what they got. I then went to Walgreens to get more medication. I got a pretty good haul of stuff to read.

Yesterday after work, I headed out to Daniele's. We eventually went over to Jodie's and it was good to see her. We went to Trade-A-Tape and I picked up Superman: Secret Identity. We then went to Comic World and I picked up some trading cards. We went to Best Buy and I was really tempted to get Star Trek IV and Insurrection but I just didn't care. We then tried to eat at Lazlo's over by the Batman Bank, then at Ruby Tuesday's, then Olive Garden, then the food court, and ended up at Fazoli's. We then went to Barnes and Noble. I picked up Casino Royale because I want to read the Bond novels in order. Then we went down to the Haymarket and had I had some Earl Grey at the Mill. Then we went to Wal-Mart. I picked up some yarn so Jodie can crochet me a scarf for my new coat. They had 2 PS3s and no Wiis. It was very depressing. At Walgreens I got a nasal inhaler for my congestion that works well. We then waited for Book Lady to arrive at the train station. She got in at about 1:45 AM so we dropped off Jodie and they took me to my car. All in all it was fun if not late.

Your results:
You are Superman

Superman 80% Green Lantern 70% Hulk 60% Robin 57% Spider-Man 55% Catwoman 55% The Flash 55% Supergirl 54% Iron Man 50% Batman 45% Wonder Woman 39%

You are mild-mannered, good, strong and you love to help others.

Click here to take the Superhero Personality Quiz

This is getting annoying

Well, my bronchitis is gone and I'm done with my medicines. So I went back to work yesterday and my nose was just relentless. It kept running and running. My cough also picked up a bit. The doctor said that it is the remnants of the disease and now that it's over, my body needs to get rid of the mucus. He gave me a new syrup that stopped the runny nose, but not the congestion. So I basically destroyed my nose trying to get rid of the snot that won't leave. So I'm not taking that again. I got very little sleep last night and now I have a mild headache combined with my congestion, cough, and runny nose. I am so sick...of being sick. I need a gallon of orange juice or something because my immune system must no longer care. I really want to go do stuff with people but I'm just taking it one day at a time.

Also, I am now aware that I used the wrong tense in my Spanish in the previous illness post. I apologize to any Hispanics I may have offended with my linguistic incompetence!