Wired Rocks

Velvety voiced Chris Kohler from Wired got his retail copy of Rock Band already. Watch him sing and play lead guitar on Weezer's "Say it Ain't So." I'm so ready for this game I couldn't help but sing along to the video.

Kohler's making all kinds of Rock Band unboxing and assembly posts at Wired's Game Life blog.

Attention Dorks!

The new version of Dwarf Fortress is out. Will it be even more impossible to play? I trust Aaron will have reviews of the new z-coordinate insanity.

Tokyo Dance Trooper

I'm sorry. There's no way these guys were made from Jango Fett's DNA. The Fetts are lousy dancers.

via TV in Japan

More Mr. Wonderful

I've been remiss in posting links to the Dan Clowes' ongoing strip Mr. Wonderful. Here are the last four pages:
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7

Stuff happens. I swear!

The whole series can be found at the NY Times Funny Pages.

The Definitive Leopard Review

John Siracusa has posted his review of the newest OS from Apple.  His reviews of OS X are generally considered to be the final word on the product.  If you wish to become more familiar with life on the other side, there is a ton of insight here.  I'm going to go ahead and say that this is the best review of anything, ever.

Find it here.

Mayfair Games Fixes Prices

Hot on the heels of the supreme court's legalization of price fixing Mayfair, the publisher of Settlers of Catan, has sent a memo to retailers capping discounts of their product at 20%.

Heated discussion @ Boardgamegeek.

picture, thousand words, all that

How To Cheat at Chess

In this video Derren Brown plays chess against grandmasters and comes out on top. Then he shows you how he pulled it off. If you're not familiar with Brown, he's a UK illusionist of sorts who uses social hacks other theatrical tricks to pull off interesting feats. So he's kinda like Criss Angel, but not a retard. Actually he's more like the brilliant Ricky Jay, who uses masterful story telling as diversion.

The Sea and Cake "Everybody"

This video for the song "Everybody" by The Sea and Cake is made entirely with animated .gifs. They've skipped .gifs that use copyrighted material, so the video has an interesting lo-fi Internet aesthetic.

Radiolab @ The Fitzgerald

The hosts and creators of the awesome radio show/podcast Radiolab will be at the Fitzgerald theater Saturday reconstructing Orson Welles' infamous War of the Worlds broadcast.

Event page

Price Fixing Legalized

Anyone see this Supreme Court decision a few months ago? NY Times story:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/29/business/28cnd-bizcourt.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

And the actual decision:

http://www.supremecourtus.gov/opinions/06pdf/06-480.pdf

I always have an opinion on legislated economics, but I'd like to hear others...

Good Card Art

After over 200 combined turns on RedHotPawn and Yucata in three days I went back to looking at card art over at www.deviantart.com. I love that place. Check out this guy's gallery. If only Christian would cough up the dough for consistantly good card art...

art by vegasmike

Qhorin's Pantheon of Boardgaming

Essen and Dock-con have caused me to reflect on my favorite games. Lists are also a great way of starting some debate. Linked is my list of top 29 games. Please forgive the writing-style, I'm decidedly left-brained.

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/25611

My Side Projects

Don't want to hurt any feelings here in Minnesota, but I've got a couple of side projects.

Band #1: The Belmont Dropouts

We played "Black Hole Sun" by Soundgarden because that was the only song on the playlist that our high-school aged band mates recognized.



Band #2: To Catch a Predator

Just because I'm playing bass on both of these tracks don't think I'm not a versatile musician. In a rehearsal I sang "Wave of Mutilation" by the Pixies and knocked the song out of the park. Check out our vocalist on this one, though. That's Ryan Smith from Popmatters handling the white boy rap stylings of "Epic" by Faith No More quite nicely.


Don't worry guys. These two projects were just one-offs. I'm dedicated to a long musical career here in Minneapolis. Especially considering the news that we won't be playing Rock Band's career mode online.

Film Noir Mondays

Take Up have started a film noir series at the newly renovated Parkway Theater. We already missed The Killing and Kiss Me Deadly. Next Monday is Gilda. Check out the full schedule here. I'm gonna catch a couple of these and buy some pop corn and soda. I feel compelled to support any local business person who believes in preserving old movie houses and presenting non-commercial cinema.

This Is What You Wanted All Along

This video made me chuckle maniacally to myself. Primotech runs down how to do the mod. I'm sorry if you had any plans between now and Thanksgiving.

Partying with the 'Dickster'

Pete Bagge rubs elbows with Dick Cheney in this comic. Since Bagge semi-retired his seminal comic book Hate he's been doing libertarian-flavored comics journalism for Reason.

The RZA Explains "My Guitar Gently Weeps"

Also: Last week the RZA won the first Hip Hop Chess Federation 1st Annual Chess Kings Invitational Champion Belt.

via Magpie.

Benefits and Birthdays

Friday night I went to The Echo in Echo Park for a benefit concert for friend Kime Buzzelli who just got out of the hospital. Lots of people turned out to support the artist/entrepreneur by watching great bands, dancing and drinking many many drinks (that's what I did at least). There was a raffle to win shirts printed with Kime's designs and for a donation Brandy Flower's Hit & Run crew would make them on the spot. I had one made for Alexis with a drawing of Kime's cat Georgie prominently featured. Musical highlights included The Long Lost, Entrance, Blank Blue and Lavender Diamond. Dublab DJs held it down out back and between sets.


Saturday, after a delicious lunch at Shabu Shabu house, I retuned to E for All for one last pass. I hooked up with my friend Mike there and headed East to San Bernadino for a birthday dinner at The Melting Pot with Jeremy and some friends. Melty.

Kime Buzzelli Benefit @ Flickr
Shabu and Fondue @ Flickr

E For All

The first day of E for All was markedly different from E3s of old. I'm pretty sure I've seen more people in the LA Convention Center for Erotic LA. Still, there are lots of games to play; Smash Brothers, Metal Gear Solid 4, Mario Galaxy, Rock Band and Guitar Hero 3 to name just a few. There's also the MLG game competition filling the space that WSVG was supposed to take before their money people packed up their toys and went home. Two of the gamers I talked to traveled to Los Angeles from Kansas. They said they'd try out for the open gaming tournaments for shits and giggles.

The highlight of the show for me was playing Rock Band again. They've got a set-up on a flat bed, which I'm assuming is the same that'll be touring the country this fall. I'll be posting more soon.

Here's my Flickr set for the first day.

The League of Extrordinary Gentlemen: The Black Dossier

Entertainment Weekly has a sneak preview of the new comic by Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neil. This one is skipping the monthly pamphlet format and going straight to hardcover.

Lol Blade Runner

via Boing Boing, a gallery of image macros inspired by Blade Runner. I think the new cut of the move may be the first BluRay disc I purchase. Back in the day my first laser disc was the $99 CAV Criterion collection of the movie, so it seems right that I drop the dough for this nutso box set.

I'm still not sure how I feel about them shooting new footage. Zora's snake dance was always better left to my imagination, I think.

Also, watch those lolRunner images -- there's a potential Battlestar Galactica spoiler in there.

Simon Pegg is Scotty!

Simon Pegg, the guy on the right, co-star of Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz has just been cast as Scotty in J.J. Abram's Star Trek reboot. It's crazy how little things like this can make me so dang happy. I thank God my brain is wired the way it is.

A Minor Internet Celebrity is Born

Watch the "Students React to Shooting" video at CNN. The second kid, a classmate of the 14-year-old shooter, responds to the interview with refreshing honesty, humor and personality. This kid will be massively Photoshopped and YTMNDed by the end of the day.

Leroy Jenkins Digested By Ad Agencies

Internet People! - The Meth Minute 39

numa numa!

My Favorite Exploitation Flick

Russ Meyer's Faster Pussycat! Kill! Kill! may not be his tightest or most vibrant film, but damn if it doesn't smolder with all the things that make great trash. It's a violent, sexual and profane tale of three voracious female bullies. The tough, busty Tura Satana is the star here -- the protype all the tough gals in every Quentin Tarantino flick. Listen close for familar clips, everybody from Madlib to Rob Zombie has sampled from the movie. Heck, even cartoonist Dan Clowes used a bit of dialog to name his graphic novel.

"I'm here because I'm bored!"

One more gauntlet thrown down:
My best times on beginner and intermediate are 9 and 95 seconds, respectively.

Looks Like I Chose A Bad Time To Leave Town

It's a big music weekend in Minneapolis. Three awesome shows that I'll be missing.

Of Montreal plays First Ave. on Friday. It's an early show, starting at 6PM. Afterwards every college kid in town will be at the same venue to see Girl Talk, Dan Deacon and Tay Zonday.

The show I'll really be mourning is Boris, playing the Triple Rock on Sunday. I've already seen these cats twice -- once at The Walker and another time in San Francisco. I'm bummed because this time they're touring with Michio Kurihara, playing music from their collaboration Rainbow. Pitchfork has some pictures from the tour.

No psych for Gus this weekend. :(

Listen Up:

Just Watch

http://gameroom.mlgpro.com/view/rhojIAED55g.html

or here

http://kotaku.com/gaming/clip/the-best-damn-halo-3-plasma-grenade-video-yet-306797.php

Video embedded for your viewing pleasure. -g

On a Similar Note

Poster Eleven at the Nobodysmiling message boards cooked up a thorough list of "The 75 Greatest Hip Hop Tracks." Each selection is accompanied by a Zshare of the song (streamable with the Windows Media Player plug-in), lyrics and YouTubed videos.

The list is very New York centric, dwelling in a justified nostalgia for tracks from the '90s. Check out Nas' "The World is Yours," "C.R.E.A.M." by the Wu-Tang Clan and "Mind Playin' Tricks on Me" by the Geto Boys for some list highlights you may not have heard before.

Wu Tang + The Beatles

There's been a bit of buzz about The Wu Tang Clan securing the first ever fully approved Beatles sample for their new album. Turns out that they're interpolating the song (basically covering the track with permission) rather than chopping the master recording. Still cool in my book. Hip hop blog Oh Word linked the new track, "The Heart Gently Weeps."

Tim, if you can make it past the language listen to the way Ghostface flows. He's a great story teller and epitomizes the heartfelt and urgent MCing style that typifies many of the Wu's rappers. Like the RZA it feels like the guy is about to crack when he rhymes. Very immediate. Anyway, enough bloggifying. Listen to the song.

Boing Boing TV

Boing Boing is easily my favorite, most read site on the web. It's a blog full of ephemera and the occasional bit of net-flavored news. Regular posters include Xeni Jardin, Mark Frauenfelder and Cory Doctorow. Here's their new show, it's pretty much a two-minute montage of random weirdness.

Kick, Punch It's All In The Mind

Chris Kohler from Wired's excellent game blog has a preview of Exclamation Warriors! a Club Nintendo exclusive that depends solely on voice commands. Japanese gamers get all the cool stuff. :(

Watch this awesome promotional video of the game in action. First person to make a joke about Japanese accents brings great dishonor to their family.

Mr. Wonderful Part Three

Here's the next chapter in Dan Clowes' serialized story "Mr. Wonderful." Find earlier chapters in the New York Times' Funny Pages.