My buddy Zeak recently had me listen to the track Handlebars by Flobots. I’ll admit that I initially stopped listening after a few minutes, dismissing it as more aimless drivel. After a while I found myself humming the tune to myself, and came back to give it a closer listen. What I found was a song that uses really simple diction to tell an incredibly deep and profound story about the incredible capacity of man to achieve the impossible, and man’s tendency to put that faculty to ill use. I was stunned by it. I mean, in this age of mass consumption music, it’s very rare that an artist with something to say actually gets their message out there. Since then Zeak has had me listen to the whole Fight With Tools album, and it’s quickly become a personal favorite. The lyrics have some of the most intelligent and socially conscious ideas I’ve ever heard on an album. Not since Rage Against the Machine has a band had this kind of an impact on me. Do yourself a favor and check them out.

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Despite my best efforts to find a photo that would have anything to do with this post, I failed miserably. So, here, watch the struggles of the modern ninja as I regale you with stories of my initial experiences as a freelance author. The strategy guide I’m working on for Prima is, as far as I can tell, going pretty well. I wouldn’t say that’s a feeling I’ve had throughout the week that I’ve been working on it. My feelings on my progress with the project have fluctuated between a cautious optimism and a quiet, yet crippling panic. This, I’m told, is a relatively normal emotional pendulum, particularly for a first-time author. I’m sure Fernando has had enough of working the First Time Strategy Guide Author Crisis Hotline, of which I am the sole caller, but he has really been a great help in helping me hit the ground running. So, a big thanks goes out to him.
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I’ve been dreaming about making a career out of gaming for as long as I can remember. I got a taste of it when I worked as a writer and, eventually, Editor in Chief at FunXbox. Oh, sure, it didn’t pay, but it felt great to have two of my greatest loves (writing and gaming) coalesce so perfectly. During this time I met a lot of great friends, and it was just a blast to work with like-minded people on something we all truly loved. When FunXbox became Xbox Advanced, things just kind of went downhill. The new owners had some very different ideas about how to run the site, and their efforts to micro-manage a staff of volunteers quickly culminated in a mass exodus of the existing writers’ pool. Most of us went on being nine-to-fivers, working day jobs and dreaming the dream. I still maintained my passion, eventually creating this blog to help channel it. But for one of us, FunXbox proved to be a springboard for a legitimate career in gaming.
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I’m glad to see that Obama’s campaign of hope and optimism continues undaunted. In this speech he emphasizes the importance of education and diplomacy to this nation’s future. As a parent, his stances on education, both present and future, resonate with me at my very core. ON the other hand, as a Foreign Service brat, I’ve seen the power of diplomacy that lies at this nation’s disposal. To hear Obama discuss plans to restore the Foreign Service to its former glory is really a new facet of his campaign to me, and I gotta say it just strengthens his candidacy that much more for me.

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We got Wii Fit the day it released. I haven’t spent a ton of time with it yet, but I plan to. We spent the first day getting everyone’s body tests done. I will say that the BMI test seems a bit strict, but I don’t know what people expected from it. Once we got everyone set up we ran through some of the training exercises. The kids loved it, particularly the Balance Games and the short run event in the Aerobics section.
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I think the video speaks for itself, so I won’t drag you down with some poor attempt at wit. Plus, it’s my Monday and my inner muse is still in bed.

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I just finished Lone Survivor: The Eyewitness Account of Operation Redwing and the Lost Heroes of SEAL Team 10, which was a great read. I’ll start by saying that author Marcus Luttrell is unabashedly conservative in his politics and he wears that distinction as proudly as he wears the SEALs’ Navy Trident. His politics find their way into his recounting of Operation Red Wing, and his narrative stops just shy of implicating the “liberal media” in the deaths of his team mates and friends on that fateful day. This raised the hackles on my inner liberal, but there was a bigger part of me that more than empathized with Luttrell. This is ultimately thanks to Luttrell’s candid and brutal honesty. His less than subtle reminders that civilians are incapable of fully understanding this war and the life and death decisions faced by our soldiers are as unapologetic as they are effective.
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I know that the Grand Theft Auto series gets bagged on to no end by the media, and I have to admit that there’s a part of me that bought into all of that. I mean, the combination of sandbox gameplay and the violent overtones does leave a lot of room for some pretty heinous shit. Sadly, I think that’s what gets most of the play with the media. Now, I can’t really speak to previous iterations, as I didn’t play them that much. I just never got into them. But GTA IV is completely different to me. At its heart is an incredible crime saga that’s right up there with some of the best movies I’ve ever seen in the genre. The media jumps on GTA IV like crows to carrion, but it’s really not all that different than movies like Good Fellas or Heat or The Departed. Do I think children should be exposed to it? Hell no. That’s why my son doesn’t even know I have it. But I don’t think the onus of keeping a game like this out of the hands of impressionable youths should fall to Rockstar and Take Two either.
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For a time I was really on the fence about Grand Theft Auto IV. I wasn’t sure if I was going to get it, believe it or not. I hadn’t enjoyed previous installments with even half of the zeal that most of my gaming counterparts seem to have for it. There was a lot that I didn’t like about my experiences with the franchise. My personal issues weren’t related to content, however, with two young children (one of whom is an avid gamer), I wasn’t keen on having it in the house. I eventually worked out a compromise and picked up the latest installment in Rock Star’s GTA series. What I’ve found as laid to rest practically everything that I’ve hated about past iterations, and the results are incredible. From the single-player experience to the unique multiplayer, GTA IV is definitely living up to all of the hype and perfect 10 reviews it has been receiving. What follows is my attempt to really pinpoint the things about GTA IV that have made it the first GTA that I’ve thoroughly enjoyed.
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As we get closer and closer to Summer, Warner Brothers is steadily ramping up the hype machine for The Dark Knight. The latest onslaught comes in the form of a collection of new posters. See the rest after the cut! Thanks to Brent for the tip!
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