Monday, October 3, 2011

Death to Farmville

I believe you all know my stance of flash games by now...  They are meant to be enjoyed at short spurts to pass the time between one task to another or a quick release from reality.  But once it becomes an empire where it requires your undying allegiance to it to just continue and maintain your virtual world, that's when it becomes more of an obsession and even worse, an epidemic to the masses.  And now, Zynga's Farmville finally pushed me to the point where the only acceptable place for it is the scenic underworld of the corner of Hellfire and Brimstone.  This I present to everyone is another installment of my Death To series; Death To Farmville...




(Special thanks to Jack Brimstone for the kick-ass illustration.)

Now, this isn't an attack on Zynga itself, I'm a big fan of some of their products.  I played Zynga Poker and Mafia Wars once upon a time prior to Facebook being nothing more than a social hub of flash games as well as some of their mobile fares with their "With Friends" line of games.  Which you can find me and start up a game with my twitter @BootLeGsampler, but that is just a testament to what they have done.  But none of which compare to what they have done with the onslaught of idiocracy that is Farmville.  So what's wrong with Farmville, what isn't wrong with it is the shorter answer.  But I'll try my damnedest to explain why I'm laying down the law and sentencing Death To Farmville.


If you don't already know I'm totally anti-gaming on Facebook, it's meant for networking and socializing, plain and simple.  Banter and contacts, that's what I see it as.  And from the last time I check watching The Social Network, they did not mention crap about games.  I was tolerable about the games and all.  I tried it, sure I was suckered in, but I blame the wifie on that.  It was just a thing I did to help with the wifie  But I was soon to notice that it was just a tedious load of crap that sucked more of my time that needed to be wasted.  It started innocently as plant some potatoes, pick some apples from some trees, and maybe milk a cow or two.  That's it, not much more to it.  Maybe, and just MAYBE, you would help a friend or two with their farm.  But then, like all things Zynga, it got friggin' ridiculous.


I was a fan of Mafia Wars too, and I weened myself out of it when they started introducing different missions and locations for quests and all.  It loss a lock of it's luster and became weak in my opinion and flooded with a bunch of bots and cheaters trying to rack up a bunch of points for what, nothing more than notoriety from Zynga at best.  Fast forward the couple of years since and all of the popularity of people on Facebook just for the fact of playing a game, it's overbearing and stupid.  Now Farmville just introduced it's third world of playing, it has quests among quests of doing, and it's ridiculously stupid on how much time it takes to maintain all of the stuff it presents to you.  Seriously, it's an old, blue haired ladies version of WoW, and I've already did a Death To about that earlier.  It is too damn much work and maintence to keep up with all the crap.  I knew of people that spend so much time and effort in the game that it became practically a second job for them with all the man-hours they did.  And let's not forget the factor that some resources you have to pay to complete.  You might not have enough of one thing and needing to buy it from them, thus feeding into the monopoly of flash games that is Zynga. Okay, so this post did become somewhat of an attack on Zynga, but not fully, I'm still focusing on the precedence of it being that Farmville will suck you of your time, money, and eventually your soul.



(Thank to The Oatmeal for providing such kick-ass content, really, you should be here more than you're on Farmville people.)




But I digress, I mean if you really don't have anything else to do, and you don't have any means of communicating with anyone in the world, and all the time in the world to do nothing but click on a mouse and burn though your paypal, sure, go for it.  But keep in mind, there are better addictions, like gambling, drinking, or interacting with a healthy relationship with actual people. But if you plan on going on with this abysmal existence, I suggest you pick up this...



BootLeG sampler.. signing out...

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Ceiling Rat and Basement Rat

Sorry, not much for posting this week, looking into stirring up the pot for something pretty damn kool next week.  As for the mean time, I wanted to share this with you guys...


Since there's an influx on Cheezburger about basement cat vs. ceiling cat, I figure I put out my own spin to the matter.  Since I have rats as pets (well, the wifie and the kids do, I live with them), I present to you Ceiling Rat and Basement Rat...




Just as an FYI, these are just two of the seven female rats I have (I have three boys in a totally different cage), I figure I would just share them.  That and it was pretty damn funny on what she was doing last night.  Enjoy...


BootLeG sampler.. signing out...

Monday, September 19, 2011

Forgotten Freshness

If you don't already freakin' know I am a huge fanboy when it comes to some kick ass music.  And one of my favorite bands of all time is doubleDrive.   You might have heard me mention them a time or two.  So now that I got that out of the way, I can segway to what I wanted to present to you guys.


A couple of days ago I was browsing YouTube just for shiggles, and every so often I do a search for my favorite things, some times there is new content.  And just so my luck, there is new stuff from the band.  I don't mean just bootleg concert footage from way back in 2003, which I don't mind, trust me on that.  I mean new material, well, sorta.  They're not getting back together anytime soon, they all moved on to other commitments, but it seems that some guy leaked unreleased material from them.  'I can't believe it, so friggin' awesome, new shit from dD' is what I initially thought.  So being the sucker that I am, I had to give it a listen.  And from my ear for music and memorization of all things aural, I can say without a doubt that at least one of them is a genuine doubleDrive unreleased track.


The one that I am doubt a little bit is the track listed "Hey Hey".  It sounds like Donnie Hamby's vocals and after listening to it a couple of times, I can see why if it was an unreleased track why they didn't put it on any of their albums.  The style was off as far as how as guitar and drums accompaniment, but it's still a good listen, so here it is if you want it...





Another one which I am certain is the true genuine article that is doubleDrive is a track called "Fed Up".  it sounds absolutely right and fitting for it to be one one of their albums, most likely Blue in the Face.  It's heavy yet melodic and the way all the instrumentals play is true to their form.  Here it is for your enjoyment...



So that's that in a nutshell, me being all fanboy out for such a kick-ass band, and now I can get to my regular scheduled mondane music listening.


BootLeG sampler.. signing out...

Sunday, September 11, 2011

I remember...

I remember where I was and what I was doing ten years ago today.  I'm pretty sure that everyone knew what they were doing and where they were that day.  It was traumatic for everyone here in this great nation and we as a nation did not let it cripple us, but used it to strengthen our stand and our beliefs.


I was enlisted in the Marine Corps and stationed in Okinawa that day.  I was watching footage in disbelief and awe that our nation was under attack.  I was hoping that my wife, then fiance, was safe since I heard of Flight 93 crashing in western Pennsylvania not knowing if she was anywhere near the site.  I was mentally preparing myself for the worst and praying for hope for my friends and family.  I was awaiting orders on what to do next due to the base being locked down in the middle of one of the worse typhoons to pass though the island.


I was terrified, scared, angry, hurt, angst, ravage, wanting revenge, wanting to take action, and most importantly wanting to be with the ones I love.  I see people in tears of this day due to sorrow.  I feel sorrow, don't get me wrong, but I also feel a since of readiness, as well as a since of being proud of taking a part of the defending our nation and making it safer due to the horrible attacks in New York, DC, and Pennsylvania.  I feel honored to have done what I could have done and look at the men and women who still out there protecting us.  I feel the pain and angst of those who loss love ones in the rescue efforts in NYC and the Pentagon and the heroism of the passengers of Flight 93.  I feel pride and sense of relief for those whom survived.


I remember Tuesday, September 11, 2001 like it was yesterday.  I can't speak for anyone else but for my own actions and my own feelings.  I hope that you feel the same as well, but I can't control you.  All I can do is preach on what I remember.


BootLeG sampler.. signing out...