Tuesday, June 30, 2009

When two passions merge, pt 2

Earlier I've talked about my two favorite things; music and videogames; come together in holy matrimony. That was pretty cool in amongst itself. But then there are some music/videogame tie-ins are just not meant to be. And to my displeasure (call me a masochist) I'm gonna get into some detail on some of them. But not too much hopefully...

The first of these monstrosities that I'll dive into would be the Make My Video series of games for the Sega CD. These pile of feces were like taking the worst of the 90's and putting them in the form of a customizable editor booth to make their already crappy music videos even more crappy; by adding in stock footage of old silent movie era bits of film and whatnot to 'make your own video' of their crappy songs that no one really cared about. There were four games that were made in that series featuring Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch, INXS, Kris Kross, and C&C Music Factory (which really wasn't part of the series, but just as equally crappy.) I would go deeper into this but, seriously, I just ate and I wanna keep what food I have left in my stomach if you don't mind.

The second of these fun-filled-failures is of a recent. The series of 50 cent games; Bulletproof and Blood in the Sand. As a videogame, the controls are choppy at best, the story is practically non-existent, and all and all, the game was a complete joke. As for the music, I was never much of a 50 cent fan, or fan of recent hip-hop to begin with. My allegiance will always be to the old school giants such as Public Enemy, Run-DMC, Naughty By Nature, Onyx, hell, even Body Count. These in my opinion is what made hip-hop cool; why? Because it wasn't hip-hop, it was RAP! The kind of music that was original in amongst itself taking the music industry to new heights. Now people aren't even ballsy enough to call their art rap anymore but still declare themselves rappers. That's major BS in my opinion and this game is a fine example of crap-on-crap action.

Another game that falls just short on this (barely) was the Def Jam series, in particular Fight for NY. This game was kinda like BET's 106 & Park meets EA Sports Fight Night (of course since it was produced by EA.) but what I think of that was it was a poor rendition of something that was already perfected one videogame generation before with Wu-Tang: Shaolin Style. Both of which were fighting games that were at least mediocre, but with Wu-Tang you had a better soundtrack. It was the better game and it was for the PSone. That's a lot to say for the Def Jam series that tried and tried again; but kept on failing on its endeavors.

I'm not trying to be bias towards rock in games versus hip-hop and R&B in games, but there is a bit of tinge in these posts. But that's not to say that games that had rap/hip-hop isn't all bad. Take for instance the Grand Theft Auto series. Ever since GTA3 incorporating its radio in their cars, you can change from rock to rap with the push of the L or R button respectively for each console it was on. Another take would be the soundtrack to some of the most recent Madden games that were released in the past few years. Hell, if it wasn't for that, we probably wouldn't have even gave two craps about Avenged Sevenfold and all their pop-punk rock greatness (or at least popularity.)

But that's my rant on music and videogames at least for the time. I dunno, maybe I'll revisit it. But for now...

Bootleg sampler.. signing out...

Sunday, June 28, 2009

Heeeere's Baby!!!

It's been an estimated 39 weeks in the making. Countless hours of loss sleep and agony. An emotional roller coaster to boot and filled with happiness, grief, pain, and just about any other emotion that can be described. But finally our (my wife and I) son was born on June 22nd. We welcome to the world Logan, our third son. Blaine and Skyler are fine at the babysitters for the time during his stay at the hospital. And just like any story, this one has its highs as well as its lows.

First off, Logan had entered the world breathing one breath, crying, and then stop breathing because he took in some fluid from the womb . They had to try to resuscitate him and it was successful, within minutes he was breathing on his own and the good doctors (all though their intentions were good at least) had put him into the NICU. He was there for about 5 days all with different minor complications that had hindered him from leaving earlier. The first was just making sure that his vitals were stabilizing and that he can hold his own as far as temperature and whatnot. This was resolved by the first 36 hours. But afterward is where I think all the b.s. started to happen to hinder his release.

The docs forgot to ween him off of his I.V. and pumping him with sugar solution earlier. So they slowly weened him from the IV while my wife was feeding him with breast milk. All the while running tests to see if his blood sugar could at least stabilize or thrive. The bloodsugar kept on climbing and Logan was on the fasttrack to leave the NICU and hopefully leave the hospital. They warrent a release. But at that time, they forgot to check his bilirubin count earlier and had to check it. It was too high and Logan had to undergo intense photo therapy to counteract the effects before possible brain damage occurs. Luckily that went well and his count went down considerably. A forseeible release would be eminent during his forth day of life.

So the day comes for him to leave the hospital and Logan is home where he rightfully belongs, with his family. And I couldn't be any happier at this moment. Finally the family is complete and whole. The way it's intented to be. Now that I got that outta my system I feel a helluva lot better and carefree at this moment. All the trouble, trials, and tribulations are over and we all can relax.



BootLeG sampler.. signing out... (and hopefully getting some sleep too...)

Sunday, June 21, 2009

11:59

This is just a brief update about how ready I am for me and my wife's new arrival. Very excited. I really can't help but to see what's to happen in the next few days.... It's just that we're so close to the end and I can hardly contain myself.... I'm running sleeplessly waiting for this to happen...

And here's a perfect rendition of what I'm feeling right now: doubleDrive, 11:59




BootLeG sampler.. signing out...

Saturday, June 20, 2009

Eleventh Hour

That is what I feel like right about now. Just waiting and waiting for that time to come when you know something big is going to happen. Something that is just so monumental that no words can completely and accurately describe the emotion thats in the air. That is what I'm feeling right about now. As you might have read in a couple of previous posts on my blog (if not the you should really check it out) my wife and I are expecting our son to enter this world. My wife have been experiencing some discomfort for the past few weeks all for the sake of keeping safe and taking care of our new son. And all that I can do about is just joke and hide my true emotions on what's happenings for the sake of not adding any additional stress to her in this gauntlet; although I have been waiting to say "I hope he comes out having that new car smell" to her yet in lieu of getting slapped to the next county.

I just wish that there was more than what I'm already doing for her to do to help her out with this last leg of her pregnancy. I'm just at a loss and I know I've talked about it earlier, but this is something that has to be said about life in the eleventh hour. We prepared for whatever situation might come across and yet I feel nervous as hell. And it's not the fact that this is a new experience, I had this feeling with my first two boys. No matter how prepared I think I am, something in the back of my mind still sounds off alarms and an internal panic is rising. I should be a pro at this the third time around, but I feel like total crap. Doing everything that I have the power of doing, anticipating on what to happen next and be diligent and ready for what is to happen; all this and not to be vomiting at the presence of nerves being shot. And if I'm feeling like this, I can only imagine how my wife is feeling inside.

Although she wears her feelings and emotions on her sleeve. She's not afraid to tell you what the hell is happening at that moment and what her thoughts on towards what to expect. And that makes me feel that if she is projecting that, than one of two things I'm thinking is going on inside of her:
1) Her heart on her sleeve is only a watered downed layout of what is actually happening inside of her and that her actions are most probably amplified at least ten fold, or
2) She's scared shitless just as much as I am about what is happening and don't know how to pronounce it in a physical sense.
Either way; I feel for her, and all that I can do is just stand by her side.

So as we get closer to whenever he arrives, I might have to take a slight break on posting. Personal matters and all (I think by now you understand, if not, you definately need to be beaten with the common sense stick.) As I wait for our son to come into this world and for me to greet him with arms wide open.

On a side note, I'm happy that my wife and I have decided on his name (of course this was months ago but I like to add some humor to the mix; hey M.A.S.H. did it for the Korean Conflict.) His name is Logan James; and the first reaction to most people when I told them that is 'you named him after Wolverine from the X-Men?' Well, not at first, but after that revelation, it just stuck. It was a complete coincidence that that happened to be the name that both me and my wife picked out for him. Just so happens to be the most bad-ass character in the Marvel Universe. Makes me proud to be a father.

Until most likely after Logan's born,

BootLeG sampler.. signing out...

Thursday, June 18, 2009

Inspiration Block

Since I've started working overnights, lots of things have changed in subtle ways. I'm eating forth meal (a meal between dinner and breakfast,) I've been posting on my blog and various social outlets more (always under the pseudonym 'BootLeG sampler..',) and another thing that some how seems to really gets my skin crawling. I've been on a creative stint and haven't been able to get out of the rut. Sure I bring my sketchbook to work with me and try to create new characters, but I feel that there's no story to it. At least not like my other characters that I've created. Also my musical outlet seems to be hitting the brick wall as well. I've had a few ideas for a couple of new songs, but nothing seems to be amalgamating together in a coherent fashion (even though some of my songs can be an enigma themselves.)

I felt that maybe I've reached a peak, but also feels that there's more to give and that I can't stop now. I just need to find a more solid ground to base everything from. These new characters that I'm trying to develop feels like more of a character development stage of an MMORPG than just some fantasy comic. Maybe it's a new direction since I've haven't venture that route yet. Create multiple plots and settings for them, break out the inner D&D geek in me towards these manifestations. I just don't know at this point. Maybe I'll figure it out, but for now, just keep on with the character creations and hopefully find a way to integrate them.

As for my music, well, maybe it's time for a little hiatus. I'm still working on trying to complete the series of songs that I'm currently working on before I can feel that its works are done. I go through this with every stint of writing that I create. But now I feel that I can possibly juggle drawling, storytelling, as well as songwriting all in my leisure. And I'll never give up and stop writing songs, that's a part of me (the BootLeG sampler.. and my true self.) It's an extension of me that I feel is a personal outlet to either vent or speculate from whatever point-of-view that is being presented and represented. Songwriting will always be a part of my life, I just wish that it's something that can be produced now with all these ideas that are running through my head.

So in short, I hit a speed bump and it kinda pissed me off. But hopefully I can go forward onto great things later on. Until next time,

BootLeG sampler.. signing out...

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Family Game Night

If you haven't already figured out, I'm a hardcore gamer. In fact, I love me some videogames no matter what it might be. Luckily for me, my wife is a gamer as well; albeit a casual gamer; but a gamer nonetheless. And when two gamers who love each other very much, one day they have little baby gamers. This is the setup to what it's like to have gamers in training. Just a forewarning, if you're a gamer itself, you can definitely understand the frustration that we go though.

So the other night my boys, ages six and four, wanted to go play the Wii. I gave them permission because they were actually acting like good kids today versus the little buggers that they usually act like. They gathered around the living room and started to play Wii Sports; strike one. One was feeling crappy due to the other pwning them in boxing, and visa versa when it came to tennis. I said, "OK, try a different game. I don't wanna hear any more whining about losing or anything, it's just a game," or something along those lines. (hey when you're cleaning up from dinner and knee deep in pots and pans, oh whatever...)

So they decided to go play Super Mario Bros. 3 that I've bought from the Virtual Store, strike two. The younger one started to sabotage the older one by whenever he tried to pass him on the path, they go into the Mario Bros. mini-game, causing him to lose and then doing the next level. Albeit he dies on each attempt, it's an annoyance that he's basically cock-blocking his brother from playing the game. At about that time my wife came home from running an errand and both me and her (being the fair gamers that we are) put a stop to the sabotage. This ended up with my wife and I watching both our kids playing Mario Bros. 3 in the worst, less than amateurish, sloppiest gaming specticale that we have seen in ages; strike three and they're out.

My wife got so mad that they kept on dying and with having unlimited continues, suffering from having to see them fail so much; that she took one kids controller and started to play for them. I followed suite and started to play for the other. After about ten minutes of that we relinquished the controllers back to them so we could find some sort of solace in them playing something more than the same three levels. But they died and had to start all over again. At that point, my wife had bribed them with cookies to pull them off of the Wii to end that insanity.

This is a gamer family's game night. Let the kids play until you're too damn upset with them losing and have to play for them. And all I can say is that goodness we had those cookies, if not then we would've probably have had two less kids. It was that nerve-raking indeed, but we went through it. And now that I think about it, it's like that with just about any type of game from our childhood that these kids seem to butcher into mincemeat. A few months ago we tried a similar expriment with Trouble. They kept on skipping turns, not jumping over players pegs, all sort of chaos. So it's whether it's a videogame, boardgame, whatever, those two somehow find a way to cause me and my wife to wonder; why did we want kids again?!? But in all honesty, they're good kids, just don't get them to play a game near you unless yourself is a gaming masochist.

BootLeG sampler.. signing out...

Saturday, June 13, 2009

When two passions merge...

You might know by now that I'm a huge videogame fanatic. You might also know that I'm just as huge of a music fanatic. So when those worlds collide, marvelous things can happen (at least in my opinion.) But sometimes, those things can fall wayside and might never be heard of or mentioned about again. That is not my intention for this post. I want to shine some light on towards how music not only intensify the videogame experience, but sometimes even define what that game was all about.

Music in videogames are important, from the very subtle ambiance of a pin drop during a stealth shoot-em up FPS to the delightful fail music after dying by the hands of a goomba, music is part of what makes up a videogame. There's even a genre of videogames that is totally devoted to music; the rhythm-based vidogames that include such phenomenons as Guitar Hero, Rock Band, and Dance Dance Revolution franchises. Without music to back them up, they would all be failures. And to transition into the point of this post, music is best served as part of the game but to also make it a stand-alone element amongst itself. Take a look at Guitar Hero and taking its claim on various acts as special packs such as Aerosmith, Metallica, and AC/DC as well as other themed versions such as 80's. Rock Band announced of a Beatles exclusive to its catalog. The point is that although now games are incorporating acts to help promote their products, it was a complete 180 back in the day and actually helped incorporate bands to star status. And there have been some games as well as musical acts to follow that principle.

One game that stands out in my mind was the title Road Rash for the Sega Saturn as well as the Playstation. As far as the gameplay is concerned, it's very short, simple, and to the point. Ride motorcycles across a circuit, don't get pulled over by the cops, and beat the crap out of any other motorist that comes your way. But what really set this above all other racing sims at the time was the soundtrack. It was the first to actually have a soundtrack. And it was GOOD!!! The definite notable band on the soundtrack is Soundgarden with their hits Kickstand, Superunknown, and Outshined, and Rusty Cage; but there was definitely more than meets the eye in that game. One of my favorite bands, Paw, is featured there. Paw, being a cross between grunge with a little bit of country twang (kinda like Hank Williams III) it really sets itself above all else there. It even incorporated a friggin' music video for their song 'Jessie' as an exclusive for the Playstation and Sega Saturn versions, now that's epic.

Also there was other notables such as acid rock group Monster Magnet before they were noticed. But my main focus is with Paw. I have their only LP and it friggin rocked, and it's just too bad that most people only associate Paw with their stint on Road Rash. They even have an EP that was made in 2000 that's available on eMusic, but since then, not much and that eventually ended up to the disbandment of the band. In fact, the only band that is still in existence from the game's soundtrack in whole is Monster Magnet; I wouldn't consider Soundgarden because only Chris Cornell is currently playing an active role in music since their band broke up in the mid 90's.

Another game that shines in the music department is Big Air for the Playstation. A snowboarding simulator that featured big named acts as well as some unknowns. Two acts that stand out is Blink-182 (who when this game was releaced was just coming out of their Dude Ranch album featuring hits like 'Dammit') and the one that I'll focus on for this game, Gangster Fun. Gangster Fun was a ska band back in the 90's that were under the helm of Mike E. Clark of ICP producing fame. Their songs were of the noir side of ska if there was one and amplified it to a beat of a drum for just about everyone to get into groove with. Notable songs were be 'Skarabia' and 'Night of the Living Stove' that were featured in the game. Personally, that got me hooked, but just like Paw, their fame was short lived only releasing just one LP and having a cameo appearance in ICP's Jeckel Brothers album. Another good band not getting the recognition that it deserves. But on the topic of snowboarding games, Shawn Palmer's Snowboarder for the Playstation 2 had another kick ass soundtrack to it to incorporate acts like Static-X and help kick start the band Alien Ant Farm to stardom. Both names are huge in its respected genres, Static-X for it's industrial rock and Alien Ant Farm for their stint in alternative music and their remake of Michael Jackson's hit 'Smooth Criminal.'

Heck, they're even the arcade classic Revolution X that was a rail shooter who featured the band Aerosmith exclusively. They even attempted to coin the phrase (to use) "music as a weapon" all throughout the game. It wasn't a good game compared to other rail shooters such as Terminator 2 arcade game or Silent Scope, but the simple fact that it was it's own arcade cabinet that was totally music oriented towards one of the greatest acts in existence. What can I say, you gotta have a yin to a yang sometimes...

But in short, videogames are an art form. Just as much as music. And to collaborate on such is well, kinda like an interactive music video. We can be the director and make it as epic (or as much of an epic fail) as our talents can offer.

BootLeG sampler.. signing out...

Friday, June 12, 2009

Waiting, and the things we do while waiting

So here I am, just waiting for my newborn to arrive. I've already noted on a prior post about my wife's condition and how the baby is growing inside of her. Sure he's huge, and my wife is practically in tears just doing the most simplistic of tasks such as walking up the stairs. But that doesn't stop her OB from being a complete imbecile and not begin to induce labor. At this stage of her pregnancy, the baby is expected to grow about a pound a week, and any larger we might not be able to have him naturally through the birth canal. My wife is scared shitless of having a cesarean and I don't blame her one bit. The OB says that if by her next appointment (which in this case would be the upcoming Wednesday) if she hasn't began to start natural labor than that's what probably gonna happen. It's total BS in my opinion, but this late into her pregnancy, trying to find a doctor that's within our network that delivers in the hospital that we want to deliver in is totally out of the question and we feel powerless under this raving jackal's mercy. Man, that gets me so friggin' mad just thinking about it. So we've been trying to find ways to pass the time and try to forget about the whole ordeal.

One of which is that if we kept our minds busy, that'll stray our thoughts from the pain and agony that she is feeling while being uber-pregnant. So we picked up some of those variety puzzle books with the cryptograms, sudokus, kris-krosses, bowl-a-words, logic problems, and other signs of brain matter stimulation. Oddly enough, this method is truly effective (at least for my wife, I usually get pissed off when I'm stumped on a roadblock) and is a great way to make use of time well wasted. I totally recommend to someone if they haven't picked up one of those logic problem puzzles that they're truly missing out on some major cool stuff.

Another is, well, the internet. We've been adopting that practice a little more than normal to pass the time and vent with fellow cohorts on our forums and message boards. Sharing our trials and tribulations online has been quite the stress reliever during this time and it's also a practice that should be taken up. But just as a forewarning, please use sparingly, prolonged effects could be just as harmful as not getting on it as well, cause you're mind will go adrift and the angst of such pain could seep back and bite you in the butt.

Another thing is finding something that's out of the normal routine. Recently we've been catching up on both the Stanley Cup playoffs and NBA Finals (by the way, I'm hating the Lakers right about now) and have became engaged on what's happening between the two. It also helps that they're on during regular scheduled programing to stray away from what we've become accustomed to viewing. Another thing television related is to find syndicated programing that you would normally not view and give it a try. For the longest time, my wife wouldn't watch 'Two and a half Men' because she thought that because of the title that is was about two gay guys raising a kid. But in actuality; it's about two brothers (one of which recently divorced with an adolescent child) living together. And she cracks herself up on how much of a jack-hole Charlie Sheen's character is on that show. Kudos for my wife to try something out of the norm, now she can't get enough of that crap (now if I can just get her to watch 'Price is Right' again since Drew Carey started hosting the show, that'll be a miracle.)

But that's just some of the things that we try to incorporate to make it better for her during these trying times. I post this because I'm in deep concern of her and I want to vent on the things that we tried to do. Also if there's any suggestions, I'm totally open for it. But for now, I'm just glad that they're a little bit of peace at the home.

BootLeG sampler..
signing out...

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

What happened to my Weekend...

Now I'm all for having a little downtime now and then. Especially if you worked a full forty and wanting nothing to do but nothing, but that wasn't the case this past weekend. It seemed as if there was always something to do and not so much time to do it in.

So my weekend starts on Saturday morning/afternoon (depending on when my wife wakes me up after coming home from my shift) to Monday evening when I have to go back and do the whole forty-hour-thing again. I woke up around noonish, checked my Facebook and wanted to checkout all the E3 recaps from THE BEST GAMING SITE EVER (honestly, this is a non-paid endorcement, I'm just a huge fan.) That took up about 90 minutes or so, then I went to spend some time with my boys while try to do household chores like laundry and dishes. Typical Saturday since it's my weekend prep day to begin to chill, a few moments. Also we (me and the wifie) took our boys to the park to play for a while, around an hour. Then went to Goodwill to find some fabric to make stuff for the baby and I got a new toy to satisfy my nostalgic inner child in me, Stage II (if anyone remembers this board game, word up!) All this before she had to go to work for two hours, and that took about an hour. And just to clarify, yes, my wife is working until she pops out our newborn; her choice even after countless arguments to have her stay at home; she still wants to help. So my wife came home, we finally had some time for ourselves once we sent the kids to bed and did absolutely nothing until midnight.

Sunday came with an early start, leaving the house at 6:45 am to help with our church's bus ministry picking up kids and families to go to church that can't make it otherwise. (Honestly, this is not a gripe, just an explanation of what I've done and to reiterate why I titled this post the way it is.) Finally came back home around noonish to hopefully lay back and play some videogames. Didn't quite happen that way, still had laundry to do (apparently we were a little backed up this week, my bad) prior to reorganize the baby stuff to make it more practical for whenever he's born and taken back home from the hospital (hopefully Wednesday if they induce.) After those shenanigans, I finally got to play some games with the intention to watch the NBA finals as well later that day. Well that didn't happen for some grocery shopping was in order. It's a necessity, eating is a habit that I don't quite want to break so there's a voyage if anything. Got home, dinner time rolled around and just when I thought that the couch was calling my butt to sit on it, it made contact... but with nothing good to watch on TV. No movies to watch either because earlier (forgot to mention this) my debit card wasn't working so I couldn't rent from RedBox. And that ended that day, exhaustion and RedBox disappointment.

Monday, Monday... We went to our friends house to work on their starter for their car. To our knowledge from prior work on different cars, starters are easy to get to, but not theirs. Apparently you have to be Elasticman to get to their starter on their Camry and last I check, we weren't. So we ended up having to wait for them to get a mechanic to work on their car on site (I know a guy and he's cool, real professional; and once again, not a paid endorsement but if you're living in the Valley, I can post a comment to where you can find him on craigslist.) We then proceeded to waste the day at their place watching Spiderman 3 which I finally gotten a chance to see. One word, AWESOME! Then we went back home, did some more spring cleaning/nesting for the baby and soon as I knew it, it would be time to get ready for work.

So my statement on towards what happened to my weekend, it was too damn busy and not enough r&r. Once again, I'm not complaining and I would go though it all over again if I had to, but I felt that time management is my greatest weak-point and I'm not getting much better at it as I get older. Maybe one day it'll plan out and I'll be able to rest for a whole day, but I'm not holding my breath on it. And honestly, maybe I shouldn't. I feel the need to help others as well as myself, to get my hands dirty doing what needs to be done, and to do whatever it takes to get stuff done, not fast, but done right. So I'm a glutton for punishment when it comes to lack of r&r, but that's not to say that I don't look forward to doing it all over again (just let it wait for my next weekend, cause it it happens during my week, there's gonna be some crap hitting the fan.)

BootLeG sampler.. signing out...

Saturday, June 6, 2009

Final Thoughts on E3 2009

All I can possibly say about E3 2009 is holy crap. The news and footage from the perspective of someone from the outside looking in was awesome. From the different innovative mediums that the big three are trying to implement to get the gamer to interact more with their games to the games themselves, it was a phenomenal feat in this year's showing. So lets break down the highlights that got me hooked on E3 '09.

Since I'm such a huge old school gamer fanatic, I think it's obvious to everyone that followed E3 to know where my focus was on, Nintendo. And this year was not a year of disappointment between me and Nintendo; especially with the presentation of New Super Mario Bros. Wii. Talk about improving on perfection; it took all that was good with NES classic and made it crazy hot by making it four-player-simultaneous where you have to rely on your comrades to get stuff done in the game, sick designs on the stages, and keeping it pure with all the old school characteristics that made that Italian plumber the super star of the Mushroom Kingdom. The controls from what I heard are pretty good for the most part, but what really annoyed people was when someone on your party died, the screen paused for a split second and that could possibly throw off someone momentum in the since of manuvering on the screen. Also it's more of an all for one versus one for all type of gameplay in completing and competing within the game in which could be dubbed as Super Mario Bros. Asshole. Another dose of nostalgia-revamps was the big announcement of Metroid: Other M. One word: sick! It encompasses in my opinion everything that Metroid should be and then some, especially with it's third person view. 2010 can't come soon enough for me to try that on for size. Plus one more thing to the new wave in Nintendo in which I'm a little skeptical about is the Wii Motion Plus peripherial for it's Wiimotes. It will allow a more sensitive feel towards the gameplay allowing it to feel more into the game. Such titles such as Red Steel 2 and Wii Sports Resort are to show off it's true protential and sure to add a more advance sense of difficulty in gameplay, thus making it more fun to play out. One thing that disappointed me about Nintendo was the tease of a new Zelda. Very little info about it and (all be it that's good) that they're actually doing a new Zelda, all they did was just one big cock-tease poster about it. Why Miyamoto, why?

And one more big nostalgic trip has to be the Ghostbusters videogame. It looks like a helluva trip acting out as the 5th member of the Ghostbusters, picking up as if it's still 1989 and being an eye feast as well as the handling of the controls leads much anticipation for the game that's due to come out later this month.

This isn't to say that Microsoft and Sony didn't show up, they made their presence shown. First with Microsoft's elongated pre-day 1 press conference where they showed off Beatles Rock Band. I've already commented on that on my previous E3 post so I'm not gonna waste the carpal tunnel on that one. But what I didn't post from Microsoft was it's innovative motion detection hardware they're trying to impliment and the game they showed off with it, Project Natal. In my observation, it's kinda like a hybrid of Sony's EyeToy and that peripheral from way back for the Genesis that detected motion from above eight different points the Sega Activator. It was in my opinion very creepy in it's presentation, but the only saving grace for it was that you can scan objects to use for certain games while you're playing them. Like I said, it didn't wow me that much. Sony however, was definately more impressive in their outing than Microsoft, with their demo of God of War 3 headlining all their software endevours as well as the PSP Go, their new handheld device that eliminates the need for carrying all those pesky UMDs and the ability to just download the content on its HDD (which I think will be awesome.) Sony as well has wowed me again with their news of getting Final Fantasy VII available to download for the PSP as well as Metal Gear Solid on the Playstation network. Two great classics finally getting ported and making good.

So pretty much, same as from what brought into this retrospect of E3 09 from my previous post on it, just a little more added flavor to what I'm looking forward to in the near future. I just hope that if you're a gamer like myself, than you were very satisfied toward what the industry has to offer us for 2009/2010. Can't wait for the next E3...

BootLeG sampler.. signing out...

Friday, June 5, 2009

Bound to Ramble

I am a music lover. That's the cold honest truth. I like most kinds of music, but what gets me is mainly rock. Rock is all good. It's kinda like the universal translation that bridges the gaps with everyone in my opinion. I mean back in the 50's and 60's we had Elvis, Chuck Berry, James Brown, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, all these great acts to spawn out all of the different genres that we have in existence today such has modern rock, country, soul, r&b, bluegrass, gospel... You name it, they started it way back when. But that's enough of a retrospective, now I want to go and see what I thought were pretty damn good acts and how they might have been overlooked in today's times. I feel that they should definitely get some recognition for their talent and perseverance in the art that they produce.

First off the top of my head is the John Butler Trio. This Austrian group is pretty laid back and relaxing, but very straight and to the point in their music. I'm actually reminded of their song 'Bound to Ramble' as I'm posting on this blog as we speak. It's nice and kinda nomadic as well. Some of my favorite songs from them are 'Bound to Ramble', 'Zebra', and 'I Used to Get High.' They have a smooth, well thought out orchestrated feeling to them where simplicity meets awesomeness from the simple rhythm and blues to an off the beaten path alternative technique. Also the multifaceted talents from each of the band members themselves bring a uniqueness not found in most bands. John Butler himself plays 6-string and 12-string guitars, a steel lap guitar, and a banjo for different songs while the bass player switches from electric bass to a double bass (with and without a bow) for different songs as well. The drummer has a wide array of percussion mediums from a standard drum kit to bongos and even utilizing other means of percussion as well. The John Butler Trio; you don't have to rock hard to know that you rock.

Another band that needs recognition is doubleDrive. These guys in my opinion is definitely one the the best bands, EVER!!! This short lived band from Atlanta, GA indeed rocked the casbah during their inception. They have a feel of many of what in my opinion made rock what it was and supposed to be in my generation: part grunge, part alternative, part heavy, all badass. With in my opinion one of the best vocalists in the business Donnie Hamby can tell a story like no other. Compliment that with the awesome rhythm section of bassist Josh Sattler and Mike Froedge and (once again in my opinion) the sickest guitarist in the world Troy McLawhorn, you had a powerhouse. Too bad that they decided to go separate ways in 2003 into different projects, but their music still rock on to this day for me. I don't think that I go one day without either having one of their guitar riffs or saying a line from one of their songs in my head (btw, 'Track 7' FTW). Tracks to listen to I'd recommend would be 'Tattooed Bruise', '11:59' and the one mentioned from before (yes, that's the title of the song). doubleDrive, just badass.

One final one cause this is getting long enough. This is yet, another band that is disbanded, but this was more about business and ethics in the industry, rather than running other music projects. Tsunami Bomb was a punk rock band from California that was unique and innovative all in one sweet package. Fronted by Agent M, this lady belted some powerful chords that haven't been done since Gwen Stefani and the boys from No Doubt were still doing good music instead of bubblegum-pop. And although the rest of the band were a motley crew of three-chord power punk musicians (and their quirky keyboardist featured in their first EP), when the time came for them to perform, it was something that would make those that were fans of Pennywise, Bad Religion, and other punk greats buckle at their knees. It incorporated all that was good in punk-rock and amplified it to the Mth. power. Songs like 'Lemonade', 'My Machete', and 'Take the Reins' were just some of it greatness in their catalog.

So that's just a sample of what I hope to keep up and bring forth. There are a lot of great acts out there and I feel that their limelight needs to shine either just a little bit brighter or just to shine on one more time to appreciate what effort they brought forth in their art. I'll try to keep up with more acts that needing to be recognized, but as for now...

BootLeG sampler.. signing out...

Thursday, June 4, 2009

Whatever (and whenever) may come...

This is big. Really big. I'm talking about the soon expectant birth of my son, Logan. And this isn't the first time around the block for me, he's number three. But with all of them, I worry a whole friggin' lot in preparation and delivery of each and every one of their births. But in this predicament, I'm actually more nervous about my wife's well being than my new (or soon to be new) born.

So where do I begin. Well, first off my wife's due date is 'supposed' to be June 26 or 27 (I dunno it escapes me at the moment... sorry honey), but we're not even gonna come close to that date. I'm expecting possibly within the next week if we don't induce first. She came from the OB where the doc noticed that she was big and not just normal prego big. They measured her and the tape read off at 46 weeks! That was three days ago. Oh, and the OB said that she was 1cm dialated as well (*nausea kicking in at about that moment). Yesterday she went to the ultrasound place and they estimated the kid to be 8lb 14oz with a 2oz margin of error. HOLY CRAP THAT'S HUGE... I mean our two boys before were huge in their own right, but this one is like Moby-friggin-Dick. Plus there is like enough fluid in her uterus to fill up a pool for Michael Phelps to swim in. That actually is normal for my wife who tends to have a lot of fluids during our first two pregnancies. We're concerned that it might not come out natural because he's so big and have to go get a cesarean for this one. That's scary for both my wife and I cause I worry about her and well, going under the knife is no fun at all at any circumstance.

So I feel like I'm useless as a provider of protection and well being because there's nothing that I can do to help ease my wife from this. She'd been in pain for the past three weeks with shortness of breath cause of the baby and all that I could do is just sit there and watch, ask her if I could do even the most trivial, tedious, simple, and mondane tasks for her to put her at ease. And it hurts like hell that I can't do anything else for her. I just don't know, but I'm open for suggestions from anyone. I just don't know and I need to give not only myself (now that's not selfish at all is it) and my wife some solace.

BootLeG sampler.. signing out...

Wednesday, June 3, 2009

Comments on E3

Psst, your inner nerd is showing. That's about right whenever you hear that E3 is abuzz and goosebumps soon cover your arms. It's a nerd nirvana and since it's decision to make it an industry only event in 2007, the videogame-starved public just have to look at the media to deliver all the news that happen so far. Currently E3 (the Electronics Entertainment Expo) is running until Thursday and we're half way into what they had to offer. So much from the big three's press conferences (Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft) and so little time to soak all that it is, so I'll just write in about some of what I thought was the biggest highlights from each of the major keynotes.


As far as Microsoft goes, to have exclusive rights for Left 4 Dead 2 is good and all, but didn't quite wow me at least enough to warrant it being an exclusive. At least not as much as Forza 3 did during it's demo. Racing haven't looked so good since the last time I was at the track. Fast cars, smooth graphics, and drifting; man there's a lot of drifting. Pretty bad ass in my opinion. Also a big shock was the non-exclusity of Final Fantasy XIII, so that really brings in the question whether I should get a 360 or a PS3 for my next console of choice, since I currently own a Wii as far as current generation consoles are concerned. What I was shocked at was all the star power that Microsoft tried to put into their presentation; Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr coming out to introduce Beatles Rock Band. Holy poop-on-a-stick the two remaining members of the Beatles, needless to say that was EPIC!!! But in all efforts, not much but a lot of glitz and glamor, and them trying to spawn off of motion detection sensor for the 360 as well, way to walk on Nintendo's ankles for that one. Oh, and the new Halo games were pretty sweet as well, especially Reach, just saying.

Playstation goes for broke with having an exclusive Metal Gear game for the PS3 but no Snake in the game, kinda skeptical on that one in my opinion, but if they can pull it off well than kudos for them. Playstation also trying to capitalize on motion sensoring controls as well (but that even pales in comparison to what Microsoft was trying to do). As far as additional gaming, they decided to make two big Final Fantasy announcements: 1) Final Fantasy VII available as a download at their online store for the PSP and 2) Final Fantasy XIV; another MMORPG and to be released shortly after FF XIII comes out for the PS3. Why make another MMO Square-Enix, haven't you learned your lesson from FF XI? But Sony wasn't out of tricks yet, they came out (offically) with a new version of the PSP called PSP Go. God of War 3 was also a good showing for their press conference as well with showing actual gameplay looking pretty intense.

Nintendo, the name says it all from the casual gamer, to the hardcore gamer, to those who don't even know what the hell a videogame is (and for that one, where were you ever since circa 1973). The giant came out swinging (literally) with an advancement for it's WiiMote demoing their Wii Motion Plus, an attachment for the WiiMote to respond better to more actively intensive games, by playing the sequel to the best selling game of all time Wii Sports Resort and Red Steel 2. Nintendo also going back to it's roots barraged with an onslaught of Mario titles for both it's Wii and DS library. A remake of Super Mario Bros. for the Wii is slated to be available this holiday season which has 4 player co-op, but doesn't mention of any online compatibility. But for the most badass showing for Nintendo has to be the new Metroid, Other M, slated to be released in 2010 is action packed and very obscure on where the story line has our femme fatale heroine Samus Aran in this epic.

That's it as far as games are concerned, but I just wanna emphesize on the many, many different ways that are out there. Since I mentioned earlier, E3 is an industry event where the players who work in the industry come and gather for showing off their new goods. We, having to just rely on our own devices, have various means to view such greatness even though we're not on the showroom floor. I mean theirs various different videogame trade mediums out there such as screwattack.com, 1up.com, G4, Spike, hell even CNN and my local news outlet were covering snippets of the event. No matter where you are, you're gonna know about E3, unless you're in a cave on a deserted island in the middle of the ocean surrounded by a ring of volcanic faults that are ready to erupt and sink said pathetic island to the sea with the slightest mention of E3. It's every-friggin-where and you can't stop it. And the best part, there still two more days of it. That's nerd nirvana for ya.

BootLeG sampler.. Signing out...

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

Stress

Stress. Everyone has it in their lives in one fashion or another. Some are more great than others as well. Not to say that all stress is good, but some things shouldn't be stressed upon, and some things if dwell upon too much could really do you some harm.

One thing that is stressing me personally is my wife. I care for her. I love her, cherish her, want to do good for her. But the deal is that we're expecting our son to be born later this month (June 26-ish) and she is a wreck. She's uncomfortable, tired, and really friggin' huge, and I can't do a damn thing about it. I want to just take all that stress away and let it be. And that's on top of all the other daily stress that occurs in my life; bills, food, sleep from working night shift, and all sorts of other crap (the hormones, oh my word the hormones). My wife is a real trooper dealing with this pregnancy and I can't wait for this to be done and we can begin to rejoice at the birth of our newborn. Now this is an example of serious stress, but truly shouldn't be dwelt upon too much because there's nothing that can be done about it (unless anyone out there knows how to induce labor, j/k). This is the stress of taking care of a loved one in true need. It's valor at one of its finest and some times, that kind of stress can kill ya if your not careful. Not to say to stay away from that kind of stress, but to not let it overtake you.

Another kind of stress is the non-serious stress. This is usually some kind of inconvenience rather than a necessity. One such thing is that we moved to a new home and wanted to get cable or satellite, but did not have the money for a deposit at the time. Now because of this, my wife and I are missing are favorite programming. She likes Jon and Kate plus 8 and Food Network and she is just at a loss at the moment. Myself, I'm missing my G4 and Spike because this week is E3 and there's a whole lot of big stuff happening right now that I just can't begin to fathom (Beatles Rockband, new Metal Gear for the 360, Forza Motorsport 3, and that's just from the Microsoft Press Conferance). I check out the internet (at least we have that at home) to see what I'm missing at E3 but like I said, it's an inconvenience. It's just sucks that this'll be the first time I would have missed an E3 coverage on cable since (thinking inside the wayback machine here) probably 2003. Yeah, that sucks, but I can deal with it. Just like I'm sure my wife is dealing with missing her TLC, QVC, HGTV, Planet Green, A&E, TNT, (if you're down with OPP, yeah you know me...) other programs out there. We deal with it and once again, try not to stress out over it, because this kind of stress is most certainly not worth it. Inconvenience does not warrant stress, it warrants a solution, and that's DTV and all the other subprograms that we're getting for free like 6 different PBS channels and 4 different ABC's. Hell, we live in the Phoenix area and we're getting Tucson stations. And that's a distance away. DTV isn't that bad of an alternative, (especially since I can still see Heroes in HD, sweet!)

But that is just two examples of stress that shouldn't be worried about, or at least in great detail. This is not to say that all stress shouldn't be stressed upon, it just to say "hey, don't sweat the small stuff and don't worry about something that you know you can't fix." Just worry about stuff that has a solution and work on it. Paying your bills is a stress that need to be stressed upon. Simple solution, get a job that has a paycheck. If you don't have a job, why the hell are you still reading this blog, get a job ya lazy bum... Taking care of your kids, that's every parent's responsibility and a stress that is a necessity in among itself. Surviving a zombie attack and outbreak, only should be stressed upon if you're in that type of situation (or playing any of the Resident Evil games).

So that's my ramble on stress... and right now I'm feeling a little bit more relaxed...

BootLeG sampler.. Signing out...