Suggestions Taken

I’ve had some site suggestions that I think I’m going to take into serious consideration. Firstly, I completely agree that the main image banner on the site should link back to the main page at all times. Secondly, I’ve been told the site looks a little sterile without pictures in the articles. I try where I can there, but I’ll definitely be adding more pics if I can. Thirdly, I’ve been asked to give more morsels. Well. I’ll try on that, too. Anyway.

Ogre is just saying that he’ll be making some updates to the site that will help in its look and feel. The atmosphere is something he strives to make as ogre-like as possible You know, the whole watch out for the bones thing? Argghhh me maties!

The Dresden Files

I’ve read the series, and man did they change a lot of stuff.

So, of course, since I’ve been waiting patiently to see the new TV show based on the Dresden Files, I was somewhat disappointed. Changes. They made a ton of them. Fortunately, they left Harry’s character alone for the most part. But, why is Murphy a brunette? She’s clearly a blonde in the books. Susan, Harry’s girl, is a brunette–instead, she is a blonde. Argghh. Also, Harry drives a beat up Volkswagon Beetle, not some old jeep thing. Gees. Also, Harry’s office is separate from where he lives Anyway.

I could bash the TV show again and again for things that have been changed. Wait! Murphy’s first name is Karin, not Connie. I guess they had to do that for some reason, not sure what. Maybe the name was too close to something else? Possibly. Copyright issues, ugh. Why does Bob have to be so boring? In the books he’s hilarious. Again, yet another thing they decided to change.

Seriously, though, the producers of the TV show made a lot of changes. Most would bother anybody who has read the books, but some do make sense. I can see why they decided to have Bob shown as a person instead of simply glowing eye sockets or orange mist. One thing they did show, however, was Bob going back into the skull. So, at least, possibly, they’ve decided to do something more with him. Also, they got rid of the bar where Harry went in the first two books. I guess that would have been a lot tougher to do. Because, from what I’ve seen, the TV show looks like a strictly shoot-on-location affair. I doubt they even have a soundstage

Special effects, though, they did a fairly decent job on. I’m happy they didn’t skimp in that department. And they’ve tried to pique people’s interests right away by using some of the creatures Harry has encountered before in the book series. Also, having the boy who is similiar to how Harry used to be growing up, gives Harry’s character a starting purpose. I applaud the producers how throughout the pilot episode they tried to show as much of Harry’s childhood as possible. And the evil Justin there–which happens to be Harry’s uncle. I’m happy that they showed Harry’s father was a stage magician and nothing more. His mother, obviously, was something a bit more than that–a witch.

Honestly, I’ve got mixed feelings about the show. It’s very loosely-based on the book series, which is understandable in certain ways, but does detract from things if you’ve read the books. Newcomers might actually enjoy it, but oldtimers probably not so much. And that’s the word from the ogre’s mouth.

Oh, and if you haven’t been to the official site for The Dresden Files TV show, you might want to check it out. They’ve got a cool game on there called “Soul Pool”. You get to go one on one with a demon. What are the stakes? A woman’s soul. You can’t get much better than that, right? LOL Yeah, it’s pretty messed up, but it’s fun

Pavilion Gone

I went to one of my favorite coaster sites today and learned that most of the Myrtle Beach Pavilion has been torn down–reduced to rubble as the newspaper article put it.  This deeply saddens me as I really enjoyed the atmosphere of the Pavilion.  It was one of the last truly enjoyable amusement parks on the beach.  And now, with the demolition almost complete, it saddens me more to learn that Burroughs & Chapin Co. Inc. (the owners of the property) have decided to demolish the Hurricane, which is a wood and steel hybrid coaster built in 2000.  That’s sickening.  The ride could be saved and sold–just like their Arrow mad mouse, which was also put in around the same time.

It just disgusts me.  Burroughs can take their condo development and shove it you know where.  That’s why they’re tearing the amusement park down.  To build stupid condos.  Granted, the realestate that the Pavilion sits on is worth a mint, but still, the park wasn’t completely unprofitable.  Really that was just an excuse to me so that they could get rid of it and make even more money–way more than the little Pavilion could ever have brought in.

That’s the point here.  Corporate America decided we no longer should have fun.  All they care about is the all mighty dollar.  Wait!  Isn’t that what we all care about?  Yes.  And that’s why the Pavilion is no longer.  Anyway.

I remember going to the Myrtle Beach Pavilion when I was a kid.  I remember taking a ride through the ghost house.  I remember going down the log flume and the river ride.  That river ride was awesome, too.  It got you soaked and had a cool theme to it.  Unfortunately, I never got to ride the Hurricane or Mad Mouse.  However, I did ride the Galaxi coaster that they had there before that.  When you go to the RCDB and you see a Galaxi type coaster, don’t be fooled, they are fierce little contraptions.  And they’re extremely enjoyable to ride.  No inversions, true, but it’s all about quick, gut-wrenching drops.

It’s just sad, like I said, to see workers tearing down something that was cool.  I think a lot of it has to do with greed and other things in our society.  Current market conditions don’t look good for many amusement and theme parks–unless Disney owns them.  Why?  I think the prices have gone up a lot and families just can’t afford it.  Oh, and when you think about it, families are on the decline ;)  But, also, most kids want to sit on their duffs all day and play video games.  Why don’t they want to jump on a roller coaster?  That’s a lot more exciting than playing Need For Speed: Carbon

The Sun News: Pavilion Falls Away

What A Weekend

All of it started Friday with events I’d rather not talk about even on the ol’ blog.  Then, I already knew it was going to take all day, I finally got everything moved into the new house.  A friend helped with it, which made things go fairly smooth.  Of course, I had to take them out to lunch as a ‘thank you’, which I didn’t mind as I was hungry anyway.  Also, on Saturday I learned one of my friends had a family member pass away.  So, I had to lend some moral support, of course.

On Sunday, I’d already planned on going over and watching a movie with some friends.  So.  I did that and I ended up staying over there until like 4 in the morning.  Why I decided to drive all the way back home instead of crashing there I don’t know.  Anyway.  It’s all good.  It just made for a long weekend.

Monday I had to go out shopping for groceries, and other various things I knew I’d need for the house.  My brother–my roomate, ugh –won’t be moved into this weekend.  So, I have the entire house to myself.  However, the cable won’t be installed until this Saturday, which means there’s no watching TV or getting online.  You know it’s driving me insane, too.  Tonight I’m going over to the parent’s house to watch some TV.  Things won’t feel really like home until I get the cable installed.  LOL

I’ve already used the stove and microwave some–I even washed some dishes!  The biggest thing bugging me right now is the tiny TV I have for now out in the livingroom, which is huge I might add.  A 25″ screen is way too small.  I’m waiting a month at least before I buy the new TV.  I just want to make sure the funds are there before I make the purchase.  I refuse to live from paycheck to paycheck like some people I know do.  Anyway.

Oh, and I got scared last night when I went into the bathroom and guess what was crawling around inside the tub?  A centipede.  That’s right.  Damn I hate those things!  How ironic that I just wrote a story about something like one of those.  I guess centipedes must know I hate them, because there was the incident with one crawling across my arm that one morning.  That freaked me out, too.  I jumped out of the bed nearly a foot in the air when I realized what it was tickling my skin

Well, needless to say, with staying up late on I was exhausted yesterday and just catching up on sleep today.  I had to go back to work also, which sucked.  Oh, but guess what?  I won an employee award :)  I used to think those were stupid, but it feels damn good having one.

A Previous Post Update

No.  No.  It’s not the 500 Greatest Rock Albums of All Time–it’s the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.  But, wait.  The book I was ranting about the other day, it’s supposed to a catalog of the greatest albums of all time, which I don’t think works too well.  Why?

Well.  If you look at the layout of the book, it’s more of just a summary of what musicians and professional music reviewers think.  And that’s fine except for the fact that the subject is way too broad.  Rolling Stones put in mostly rock albums into the book, which is fine by me except that if you’re into rock you don’t care about Eminem.  And if you’re into rap you don’t care about The Beatles.  So, why mix it together?  Besides, they have about 480 albums on rock, and other twenty are either jazz, blues, or rap.  Hmm…  How can you do that?

There’s no way you can narrow it down that much.  They should have done separate books.  Because, like I said: some artists got left completely out that should have been there.  Oh, and I was wrong though.  Black Sabbath has two entries in the book–album 1 (titled: Black Sabbath), album 2 (titled: Paranoid).  Still.  There’s not one Rush album anywhere to be listed.  Ugh.  Anyway.

I talked my dad into getting an Ipod Nano.  He bought so that he could use it at the track.  I was surprised at how small the thing was–it replaces the Ipod Mini.  The nano is tiny and has flash memory, unlike its predecessor.  In fact, the thing even has a color screen :)  Makes me jealous.

500 Greatest?

For Christmas I bought my dad Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Rock Albums book.  He had asked for it, and I thought it might be kind of cool to read through it after he got done.  Well.  The book is kind of cool, but I see some flaws in it.  Isn’t this book supposed to be about “rock”, if so, why the hell is Eminem in it?  And there are a few other things that get me.  Where the hell is Rush?

Not one Rush album was selected to be put into the book.  Umm.  Moving Pictures?  That’s one of the best rock albums of all time!  I mean it has Red Barchetta, Tom Sawyer, and Limelight on it.  Plus the other few songs, while not perfect, are very listenable.  Doesn’t everybody know Tom Sawyer?  I mean it’s like one of the staples on classic rock stations.  Rush is one of the best rock groups of all time.

I was surprised, though, to find Jethro Tull in there.  Granted, the album was Aqualung–one of their more famous ones.  But, I would have gone with M. U., their greatest hits.  It has an excellent variety of their songs.  Who doesn’t like distorted guitars and flutes?  LOL

Yet, Eminem is in it!  What the hell.  He’s nothing more than a wannabe hoodlum.  Besides, this book is about “rock” not “rap”.  I think the editor got his words mixed up on that one.  Anyway.

The Beatles, yes I know are one of the greatest bands of all time, they have way too many entries in the book.  That’s how I feel about it.  There were a few other selections that I’d have changed.  For example: I think Black Sabbath’s first album is better than their second.  That’s just my opinion, though.

Railroads…

Nice game Sid, except for a few frustrating things….

I’ve always been a fan of Sid Meier’s games, and I’ve been fairly happy with his latest endeavor, Railroads.  However, with that said, there are several things in the game that have made my experience playing it frustrating at times.  First off, I’ve been playing a lot of multiplayer with it.  And it’s fairly stable except for every once in awhile where it does a hard crash.  Now, whether or not this is because of driver issues or something else, I’m not sure.  Though, it doesn’t matter, because it’s irritating when you’re not doing half bad and then the sound goes screwy and the game crashes.  I’ve actually had a blue screen!

Another thing that got my goat yesterday was when I wanted to go create a custom map and I found out that there’s no map editor with the game.  That really struck a chord with me.  Why?  I had been on the official site and it said there was “support” for a map editor.  So, naturally, I assumed, like so many other games in its class, that Railroads came with a custom, built-in map maker/editor.  Gees, I was so disappointed.  Then.  I was surfing the web and I couldn’t find even one fan site for the game.  No wonder why now.  Without a custom map editor things get pretty limited pretty fast.  Now, you can with a little bit of doing, create custom emblems for your trains–and that should also be built into the game as far as I’m concerned.

I hate bashing one of Mr. Meier’s games.  But, come on.  Some of this stuff is just obvious.  It seems to me that 2kgames was pushing Firaxis to get Railroads out the door.  Hopefully, Firaxis will offer a map maker tool for the game in the coming months.  I know they’ve done that for Civ before.  So, it might still happen.  And when it does, I might want to create a fan site where I can offer custom maps, but until then I’ll have to be content with simply playing the game as is.  Oh, and speaking of that.

Thus far I’ve been fairly successful in my online campaigns against Railwolf and the game’s AI.  I’m not trying to brag or anything but I think I’m fairly good at the game.  My general strategy is to go with freight in the beginning and then as things progress get into passenger service.  Also, buying industries in towns is a good idea, but that doesn’t mean you have to buy everything.  If a business is semi-lucrative then you may or may not want to buy it.  Obviously, if it’s making cash you should look into it.  But, having some companies under the belt doesn’t hurt.  One of my favorite tricks, and I hate to give it away, is to sucker others into high-bidding and then let them keep the highest bid.  That way they waste their money when I know it’s a business not worth much at the moment :)  That’s a trick I always liked using in Monopoly, and it works here just as well.

Routing is another thing you should pay close attention to.  Because, after all, you want to get your freight or passenger service to the station as quickly as possible to maximize your profits.  Early on there are a few things to remember: keep your grade shallow (I’m referring to the steepness of the track), use double track and switchovers on your main line, try to build as few tunnels and bridges as possible.  Early locomotives have a hard time climbing through mountains, so if possible avoid hilly and mountainous terrain all together.

Sidings are another possible way besides double track to keep trains moving.  Generally you’ll find that later on you’ll have enough cash to build alternate routes.  Oh, and one definite thing to do is bid on every piece of technology.  All of it will help you to some degree.

In the beginning, you can sell some of your stock to give you a financial boost if there’s something you need to complete right away and don’t otherwise have the funds.  I’ve used this technique more than a few times.  Actually, there are so many tactics and strategies that I probably could do a site on just that!  Anyway.

Railroads is an awesome game–I just wish there was a map maker/editor.  I’ll post some screenshots soon.

Best This, Best That

Is it just me, or is every company saying they have the best?  I mean, I was watching TV last night and ABC was claiming that Knights of Prosperity, a new comedy they came out with, is the “best” comedy of the year.  I was going to watch it anyway, just to see how it was.  And I was sadly let down.  I should have known it’d be crap.  But, the point is, who said it was the “best” comedy of the year?  Then, a couple of commercials came on advertising cars–I think one was Honda, the other Chevrolet–and each one said “best” in class for their vehicles.  It’s getting a little crazy with the “best”.

All of it if you ask me has been overdone.  Oh, and speaking of that.  Commercials in general as of late have all been very much the same.  Office Depot’s latest is killing me, it sucks so bad.  A hand popping out of an Office Depot box, pointing like Thing from the Addams Family to items that the person is looking for is fairly lame.  I thought the Rubberband Man was dumb.  No.  This tops that.  Oh and another annoying one is the one for Olympus–I think that’s who it’s for–where the girl is walking to her apartment and these tennis balls spill everywhere.  She gets out onto her balcony and the tennis balls form a giant smiley face that she takes a picture of.  That’s just stupid.  Anyway.

I think some of the best commercials of the last two years have been from Capital One.  Even though Cap likes to screw people with their credit cards, it’s still funny to see a hoard of viking-like pillagers in ridiculous situations.  I also liked the one where the guy took his family skiing but there was no snow.  Him taking off on the snowmobile like that was priceless–priceless, ugh!  I’m not down on advertising, or anything.  I mean, it annoys us all, but it is necessary.  However.  Bad commercials hurt my brain.  And enough with the “best” please!  Heh.  “Wii like to play.” ;)  “Brilliant!”