FFXIII to 360

I can’t image that Playstation did anything less than offer their first born sons to try to stop this, but it looks like the next installment of Final Fantasy is not going to be a Playstation exclusive.  Amazing news for XBox owners since there is a noticeable lack of solid RPGs.  Bad news for the PS3 which seems to be having a hard time breaking their underdog status in the console wars.

Drink of the Week - Sea Breeze

So since I am working on a mixed drink web site, I have tons of cocktail recipes. I figured I’d share the wealth and every week I’ll make a drink, list the recipe, and detail any thoughts I had about it. First up, the Sea Breeze.

Name: Sea Breeze

Recipe: Use a highball glass.
Ice cubes
2 measures vodka
4 measures cranberry juice
2 measures pink grapefruit juice
2 lime wedges

This is one of my favorite mixed drinks, though I always forget it is until I taste it. It may be one of the most refreshing cocktails you can get, due mainly to be mostly juice.  The Sea Breeze is also extremely easy to make since all you need is one type of alcohol.

If you are counting calories, it can be made with light juice, which is actually how I made it tonight, and it still tastes great.

Team Fortress 2 - Hitboxes

I haven’t logged into a TF2 game in a few months, but I found this video via Digg to be pretty interesting.

The video doesn’t come with an explanation so I’m not 100% sure how they accomplished this, other than maybe changing the models on their local install.  Basically it shows player hitboxes preceding the actual player by a huge margin.  The effect is especially noticeable on the speedy scout, whose hitbox is a good two bodies away from where he actually is.

It may just be their way of simulating that you obviously need to lead your shot on a moving target, but the coding is flawed if for no other reason than you shouldn’t need to lead your target on a point blank shot, lol.  The demonstration of the two snipers also brings to light things I’ve noticed in the game, specially shooting an enemy in the head, seeing blood splatter on his face, but him taking no damage.

Just something to be aware of when you are fragging nibs.

Good News Ladies

There is now a day spa devoted wholly to your love box.  There you can get a vaginal rejuvenation and learn all the latest pelvic physiotherapy techniques, the “dental floss of feminine fitness”.

But really my main reason for posting this is to wonder out loud why there isn’t any day spa devoted to the penis?  Little CJ could definitely use a mud bath and a cucumber mask.

Luther Burger

God help us all, the Luther Burger is actually being made and sold.

Wanted - Review, sort of…

This ended up being more than a rant that a review, but whatever. Before I start my review, let me just preface this by saying no one wants to hear you complaining that the book/comic is better than the movie equivalent.  Every time I hear those words coming out of the movie theater, I feel like I’d be justified in beating them unconscious with my empty popcorn bucket.  I’ve had to endure several months of this from my comic-loving friends who still have yet to see the movie, but who will nevertheless make sure to let you know how much it sucks compared to the comic.

A movie is a completely different medium than the movie.  I always imagine in my mind the first artist who decided to draw the oral stories on the cave of his wall, and think of the other people responding “Pft, the oral story is so much better than the cave drawing.”  Consider if you will, my favorite novel ever written, Snowcrash.  There is absolutely no way you could translate that story in full to the big screen.  Things would get changed, things that fans of the book might consider essential.  Would Hero still be a pizza delivery boy for the mafia?  Would the plotline between YT and her mom make it into the movie at all?  Entire characters would be cut from the film, and this is ok.  Why?

For one, investors generally like to make money.  Remaining true to the book may appease some of the hard core fans, but in general they want to make a movie that appeals to as wide as an audience as they can.  In a movie like Lord of the Rings, staying true to the original material only helps them, because of the vast amount of people who have read them.  In a movie like Wanted, where maybe 1% of the viewers will have read the comic, they may be less inclined to stay so close to the source.

Secondly, not everything in a book is possible to translate into a movie.  In a book you are not bound by a word limit nor are you bound by imagination.  Absolutely anything you can think of can be in a book.  In a movie, you are limited by length, and sorry but no matter how technically advanced we get, it will never be a replacement for the imagination.  In cases such as these, sticking to the original material could end up creating some very poor scenes and ultimately a very poor movie.

Thirdly, books don’t have an MPAA.  The particular scene my friends expressed great disdain for being absent from the movie is where the main character rapes a movie star, and then kills her with a toaster in the bathtub.  I won’t lie and say that doesn’t sound amazing, lol, but a scene like that has its price.  It comes with protests from woman’s and/or family groups, it has lawyers suing you for corrupting America’s youth, it has a host of implications that extend beyond the artistic.  Not everything can or should be done on video.  If you want to push the line, do it in print.

There are some other major plot devices that have changed from the comic, but I won’t get into them since I haven’t read the comic and wouldn’t want to speak unintelligently about them.  I definitely want to check it out though, despite all the bitching that I’ve heard, the comic does sound pretty cool.

But anyway, back to my review.  Any type of movie like this will ultimately be compared to Matrix.  I was pleasantly surprised by the action scenes, and did not consider them derivative or copycat at all.  As I told my roommate, Wanted is the movie that Shoot Em Up should have been.  Great action sequences, but still a very legit story line.  The assassins have special abilities such as bending bullets around walls, or jumping from building to building, but it isn’t corny.

It hit especially close to home from the first scenes regarding the main character at his job.  I typically resist when ovies/books/commercials/media tell me that working in a cubicle is meaningless and unfulfilled, but for some reason this particular instance hit close to home.  The main character’s shedding of the title of office tool is celebrated when he embraces the life of an assassin, even though his father wanted him to have a normal life.  Where is the movie that tells me working a 8-5 desk job is ok?  As much as I love constantly being told how much of a sin it is to be normal, I’d appreciate a little propoganda once and a while.  Big Brother please get on that, ok?

But seriously, go see this movie.  I’ll make the bold claim that if you have ever liked any action movie ever, then you’ll enjoy this movie.  Unless you’ve read the comic, in which case you’ll probably hate it on principal.

Update: Actually, not every one who read the comic hated the movie.  (Potential spoiler warning there).

Spore Creature Creator

The game isn’t due out for a while, but in the mean time, you can tide yourself over by messing around with the Creature Creator.  The creator is pretty fun in itself, I’ve created a couple of creatures that I lub!!! I have a feeling that Spore will do for the PC what the Wii did for console gaming, which is bring in a decent amount of people who don’t normally play video games.

Or you can abuse the hell out of the creator. (NSFW)

Euro 2008

So the last semi-final match just finished, and we are now looking at a Germany v. Spain final for this Sunday.  I couldn’t be more thrilled at the outcome.

I was pushing for a Netherlands win, but unfortunately they lost their steam after the group matches.  But once Netherlands lost, my ideal matchup was Germany v Spain for the final.  Boosh.

There were some great matches this year.  I’m sorta new to being a soccer fan, but its insane to me when people say it is boring.  In no other sport can a single event cause you so much grief or glory.  The stereotypical Mexican announcer yelling “GOOOOAAAAL” for five minutes straight is so true, because every time my team wins I want to rip my shirt in half and run around the room screaming, hah.  Likewise seeing your team rip one off the crossbar is agonizing.

The only unfortunate part about the tournament is that the games are on midday for the US, so I had typically watched the first half of each match at a bar, and then spent the second half checking the text updates online.

But yah, Spain and Germany.  I’ll definitely be routing for a win for Spain, but I think I can live with a Germany win.  It’s on at 11:45 pacific this Sunday on ABC and if you’ve never given it a chance, that’s as good as time as any to do so.  I’ll be at church myself, so just need to secure a reservation with some one with a Tivo.

US Courts Made Available to Enemy Combatants

[Update 6/23/08] An article from former presidential candidate Fred Thompson on the rights that Gitmo detainees had before this ruling.  Be sure to read the second page as well which deals with the implications of the ruling. [/Update]

So I’m very surprised to not see this any where but political blogs, but the Supreme Court ruled today that Guantanamo Bay detainees will have the rights of the Constitution, specifically the right of habeas corpus, or the right of access to US courts.

I’m typically hesitant about talking about such a divisive political issue, even from my own blog, but this may be the worst decision to come out of the Supreme Court since Roe v Wade. Why? Good question.

Let me start by saying I have problems with Guantanamo Bay. I believe it should be the right to US courts should apply to any one accused of a crime and captured within the States. Whether citizen or immigrant, no matter what the crime, they should be treated with the same rights than any citizen has. I had some very serious issues with the situation regarding José Padilla, and it was extremely frustrating to see so few on the conservative side seemingly not care about his situation. (He was held for three years without trial). He was ultimately found guilty by a jury of his peers, but that is beside the point. We took away a citizen’s rights, and that shouldn’t happen.

With that said, no, the Constitution absolutely does not apply to people we capture in fighting a foreign war. “So what, CJ, are you saying they don’t have rights? I bet you were happy what happened in Abu Ghraib.” No, they of course have rights. They are human beings, regardless of what they’ve done. But the US courts are not there to try foreign combatants. That is what the military tribunals are for. Let’s bring this decision to its ultimate conclusion with a great quote from Allahpundit.

It seems absurd to apply criminal law to unlawful combatants captured during hostilities abroad. Will they require a Miranda reading, too? Do we have to bring the soldiers and Marines who captured them to the trial? In our 232-year history, when have we ever allowed that kind of access to enemy combatants not captured inside the US itself?

So, what are your thoughts? Am I missing something or making unnecessary conclusions?

Also in the news, a law was passed in the UK House of Commons to be able to detain terror suspects for 42 days before charging them. I’ll take the other side with this one and say this is a very bad thing. For the police to be able to arrest you and hold you for over a month without charging you is a horrible abuse of police power.

In case you are asking what the different between the stories is, I’ll oblige. This is one of my problems with Guantanamo Bay. If we are holding detainees for years without charge or trial, then this is a problem, but this is a separate problem that has its own solutions, not giving them access to US courts.

(Also, for additional reading on Guantanamo Bay, I recommend this series here)

Robot Girlfriend 1.0

Robot companions are an inevitability, as is, well, you know.  We aren’t there yet, but here is the 1.0 version of the future in case you are interested.

I’m curious to what people’s opinions are on stuff like this?  I doubt my views on robot companions are very typical, and honestly, I blame anime, heh.  I think it’d be easy to write off something like this as freaky and weird, but people get lonely.  And obviously a 15 inch toy is no substitute for for human companionship, but then again, neither is a cat or a dog.